


THIS BOY WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME

by OfButtsAndBombs



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Humor, Arguing, B99 Summer 2019 Fic Exchange, Case Fic, Detectives, Drama, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Light Angst, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-06-30 04:52:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 32,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19845976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfButtsAndBombs/pseuds/OfButtsAndBombs
Summary: Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago, self- proclaimed 'best detectives of the Nine-Nine' (and 'of the NYPD', 'no, USA!', 'no,the entire freaking world!!', when they get a little drunk) are handed a routine murder investigation which goes off- track. Will this cause their already fragile relationship to change?The journey from 'Peralta and Santiago' to 'Jake and Amy.'





	1. AND THIS IS HOW IT STARTED

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stolethekey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stolethekey/gifts).



> Hey, thanks for reading! I've tried to depict bickering Jake and Amy in all their angsty glory- I hope I've got it right! The story is a bit slow in the beginning , but all the drama and action comes later!! Hop in for the ride- enjoy! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

*THIS BOY WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME* 

PREVIOUSLY, ON 99TH PRECINCT DRAMA

Amy Santiago was many things.

She was a badass; a stickler for rules; a bit type A. Also, she was obedient, organized, punctual, hard- working and sincere.

Well, to be fair, she could also be stubborn at times, hot-headed, a bit overbearing. 

She was afraid to let her hair down, but she could drink you under the table if she tried.

One thing she wasn't, was stupid. 

Yet, at this moment of her life, Amy couldn't help but feel she was the _biggest_ idiot on the planet. She had never felt so angry at herself.

As we know, many times, it is easier to take your own anger out on someone else.

And today, that someone else happened to be- 

_"JACOB PERALTA YOU DUMBASS-"_

\-----------------------------------------------------

To find the very root of Amy's misdirected anger, we must go back to a cold day in November 2011, when Amy made the mistake of trying to suck up to Captain McGinley (in full view of aforementioned Jacob Peralta) - 

Or...wait! We could go back to April 2011, when (not Amy's mistake this time) Jake felt that an April Fool's joke on a high-strung person was a good idea (twasn't) 

Or...or maybe September 2010, when Amy's brother came into the precinct to make a big deal of her birthday, and inadvertantly gave Jake and the precinct enough fodder to tease her till her next birthday.

.......Or, you know what, let's just start at the very beginning, the day when Amy met the man who would become the bane (and later, _much, much_ later, boon) of her existence.


	2. AND BY THE BEGINNING, I MEAN-

AND BY THE BEGINNING, I MEAN-

_"I'm hearing wedding bells!"_

Amy winced when she heard that. _"What the hell?!"_

The man who had spoken the incriminating words looked like an overenthusiastic puppy.

Her nerves were on edge with first day anxiety, otherwise she would have definitely given him a peice of her mind - randomly cornering two strangers like this! Who did he think he was? 

The man, who would allegedly have wedding bells ring for himself along with her - _Jack Peretti? John Pancetta? Urgh, what was happening to her, she was good at names!!!_ \- for his part, looked pretty much taken aback as well. But he quickly rearranged his features into a face of disgust. 

"Get a grip, Charles!" He said. And quickly left the scene.

Amy vaguely wondered how he dare think it was disgusting to marry her. The thought left as soon as it came, quickly replaced by the former worry. 

Boyle must have misunderstood the expression on her face, because he said, "Don't worry about him, he's just been through a bad break up. And his father called last night, that's never good. He's usually amazing to be around! You'll love him!" He chuckled to himself, almost _conspiratorially_ \- "Yes, you'll love him soon enough", he muttered under his breath. 

It was Amy's turn to make a face of disgust. 

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you mean. Anyway, it's my first day here, can you help-" 

"Oh, of course! Here, follow me-"

He led her into the bullpen.

Amy closed her eyes briefly and heard the familiar sounds of staplers stapling, photocopiers photocopying, coffee makers making coffee and prisoners swearing at officers, and her anxiety was alleviated for a bit. 

"Hey- Sarge! Sarge! Got a new detective for you!"

A extra-muscular man walked upto them, eyeing Amy warily. 

"Hey. Sergeant Jeffords, I'm Detective Sergeant here at the Nine-Nine. "

"Good morning, Sir! I'm Detective Amy Santiago, I'm supposed to start at the Nine-Nine today..." Amy began, holding her hand out.

Terry glanced at the wall clock.  
"Cool, welcome! We usually expect our detectives to be in by 8:30, so remember that tomorrow onwards..."

Terry continued his speech about rules and all, but Amy felt herself teethering on the edge again.

_Had he implied she was late!?!? Amy was never late! The Santiagos were never late! What would her mother say!? What would the new captain say!? Oh God, everyone was judging her already, she was a bad detective, she did not deserve to be here -_

"Detective? Did you hear what I'm saying?"

Amy's blank face must have told him all he needed to know.

He softened a bit. "Hey, Amy, can I call you Amy? Amy, you -" 

"I'm sorry, Sergeant, it's just that I talked to your captain yesterday, and he told me to come in at 10, so-" 

"What- you talked to the captain?"He asked in surprise.

"I mean, I talked to a lady, who asked the captain-"

" _Oh_. I see what must have happened. _Gina!_ "

A bored looking girl with flowy auburn hair looked up from her computer screen with a bitter expression, as though anything her eyes saw except that screen, was not worth seeing. "Terry, don't disturb me, I'm stalking my ex-boyfriend!"

_"Stalking is a crime, Gina!"_

"Urgh, cyber stalking, get with the times, man!"

_What kind of place is this?!_ Amy wondered.

Terry rolled his eyes and headed over to Gina's desk, Amy following meekly. "Did you talk to Amy yesterday, on the phone?"

"Amy.... who?" Gina lazily twirled a piece of hair in her fingers.

"Oh, hi, I'm Detective Amy Santiago, I c-" Amy piped up from behind Terry.

"Oh right! I remember you. Detective Chipper-Voice! Damn girl, you look as boring as you sound!" Gina gave her a disdainful once- over before returning her gaze to the screen, undeterred. 

Amy, for the second time that day, winced. 

"Gina, come on, man, don't mess with her, she's new."

"Yeah, okay. Yeah, she called me, I told her to come in by 10, because that's when McGinley comes in anyway."

"You know everyone's shift starts at 8:30!" Terry crossed his arms, forcing Gina's gaze away from her desktop. 

"Yeah, but she asked when she could come in and meet the captain, so-" 

"Oh! I didnt mean-" Amy began, looking flustered.

"Yeah, Ally, I get it." Gina deadpanned, not looking at her. She seemed to be looking very interested in Terry's suspenders...? 

"Its Amy, actu-" 

"Yo, Jake! - Gina suddenly called out to wedding bells guy ( _His name is Jake!_ Amy scolded herself, reminding herself that nicknames at workplaces are unprofessional) - My mom's getting married again, can you help me make her new husband run away?"

He sent a lopsided grin and a thumbs up her way before turning back to the perp he was interviewing. 

This was moving way too fast for Amy.She stood in the middle of the crowded bullpen, shocked. 

Terry finally took pity on her.

"Detective, why don't you come into the break room with me, and we'll sort out all your hiring paperwork? Gina, you come too."

_Oh no, not her!_

"Captain isn't here yet," he added in a low voice. Amy hadn't heard any great things about McGinley, but she hadn't heard any bad things either. 

She was on the lookout for a mentor. Life had taught her that an experienced authority figure on your side, was better than having a dozen colleagues for friends. That's why her quinceanera had more teachers than students and the reason she had been a student chaperone at prom. She tried not to think of the teasing she'd endured. It never stopped her from finding a mentor. 

This hadn't gone well at her last precinct either - in fact, her mentor was the reason she'd transferred , but three days had passed since the...incident, and Amy had almost succeeded in totally repressing the hell out of that day from her mind. She hadn't told anyone about it, and was never ever planning to- _No one will understand, -_ she thought.

She still kept some hope from Captain McGinley.

(She would meet him 2 days later- after it was established that he'd missed three whole workdays to attend the Burgeranza festival in Indianapolis- that alone was enough for Amy to rethink her mentor ideas. She quickly realized that McGinley was not going to make a good mentor, and hoped he'd retire soon. Anyway, the man looked like he was a Large Soda away from a stroke.) 

She spent the rest of the morning completing her paperwork. She submitted it to Terry, who congratulated her on her handwriting (she bit back the urge to tell him about the calligraphy club) and said - "Since it's your first day in the 99 as a detective, why don't you follow someone around today, and for the next week, till you get a hand on things? Your resume is pretty brilliant, so I'm sure I'll be assigning you your own cases in no time. " 

He looked around the bullpen, and for the first time, Amy looked around too. Like, really looked around. 

_A curly haired Latina woman with a scary look in her eyes was making her perp shake in his boots._

_Charles was typing up a long essay, on what she would later come to know was his food blog._

_Two larger, older detectives were arguing....over a pack of gummy bears...?_

_And Jake was now perched on Gina's desk, laughing with her as she told him a story._

"Hey, JP! Stop wasting time!" Terry called. 

"Urgh, I'm done with all my open cases, Sarge, I-"

"Where's the paperwork?"

Jake gave him a sheepish look. 

"Peralta, I told you -" 

"Right, okay, fine, I'll do it-" Jake sighed exaggeratedly.

He threw Gina a mischievous grin, which Terry caught immediately. He sighed, as if he'd been through this many times.

"Here. Got a new case for you. Larceny." Jake leapt off Gina's desk and made his way towards Terry's. "He's a bit immature, but he's a good detective," Terry whispered to Amy.

"Grand Larceny? Cool! Love it." He grinned and held his hand out for the file.

"Case just came in. Get to the scene - take Santiago with you, she's gonna be your secondary."

" _What?_ No Charles?" Jake gaped at Terry.

Terry gave him a look.  
"I know why you always want to be partnered with Charles, Peralta. It's not happening. Take Santiago with you, and show her the ropes. Show me you can be responsible, for once." 

"Responsible- Schmisposible," he muttered under his breath. With a sudden movement, he threw the file at Amy, who just managed to catch it with the tips of her fingers.

Jake clicked his tongue at that. "C'mon Santiago. You gotta be better than that if you want to keep up with the best detective of the Nine-Nine!"  
He turned around and started walking to the elevator.

Amy looked at a Terry. He almost looked sorry for her.

"Good luck on your first case," He said. The words _'with Jake Peralta'_ stay unsaid. 

Clutching the file to her chest, she jogged to the elevator, where Peralta made a big show of having to wait for her.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Amy wasn't having the best first day. 

As she entered the elevator with Jake, she thought, "Maybe it'll get better now that I'm on an actual case..." 

She was wrong. 

As she walked back to her car in the evening, Amy was exhausted and annoyed. Jake had spent the whole afternoon making a big show of his detective work. It had been almost irritating enough to make Amy forget about the wedding- bells comment...almost. 

Truth be told, he was a good detective. He'd cracked the case pretty quickly.  
Then proceeded to brag Amy's ears off. 

That was the day Amy realised Jake Peralta was the #1 at the Nine-Nine. And if she wanted to be #1, she had to beat him.

_Oh it's on, Peralta._ she said to herself.

Except - she hadn't counted on him being just as competitive as she was.  
It was rare to find a man who could compete with a female without letting toxic masculinity get in the way, and Amy was pleasantly surprised to find thag Jake Peralta was one of the few good guys. Possibly the only one Amy had ever met. _Including_ her brothers.

This didn't stop Amy from disliking Jake Peralta, who was currently singing along to Beyoncé very aggressively, and who could be an annoying asshole if he wanted. (He wanted it most of the time.)

On her first day, if she was asked what Jake Peralta was to her, she'd have said - a problem.


	3. AND AMY SANTIAGO WAS GOOD AT SOLVING PROBLEMS

AND AMY SANTIAGO WAS GOOD AT SOLVING PROBLEMS

She'd gone to the crime scene with Peralta and had tried to help out as much as she could. But Peralta was too busy in trying to prove his prowess, and didn't pay any attention to her ideas. 

Now, Amy had grown up with seven brothers. Most of the time, they didn't take her seriously. She went to school with kids who thought she was a nerd and a teacher's pet. They didn't take her seriously. She'd gone to college with people who though she was a bore and a people-pleaser. They never took her seriously. At the academy, she was surrounded by such men - taller and more muscular than her, who dismissed her for her being a woman, and never took her seriously. At her first job, her dick of a captain took advantage of her earnestness and thought she'd do anything to climb the ladder. He never took her hard work seriously.

Amy was done with being overlooked. Amy was done with being taken for granted. 

She would show them. She would show them she could do anything she put her mind to. She would show Peralta she was as good as him. No, _better_ than him. She would be the best detective of the Nine-Nine. 

After that day, she'd worked cases with Dts. Rosa, Charles and Jake. She learned that at the end of the day, it would be she, who had to help herself.

Two months into her job, she was assigned to be Jake's desk partner. She took her box of things to their joint desks, winced a bit at seeing the absolute mess his desk was, and got to work making her own desk spotless. 

Jake for his part, seemed to be much amused by Amy. He left no opportunity to tease her: about her love for crosswords, her love for rules, her knitting hobby- he found a new topic everyday. And Amy, not to be put down, dragged him for his lateness, messiness, and his general disregard for rules. It seemed to bother him quite less than he bothered her, and he always had better comebacks. This never deterred Amy. Soon enough, they settled into a familiar rhythm of teasing, arguing, being petty, and then going back home and forgetting - to be repeated the next day. 

At that point in her life, Peralta was an acquaintance; a colleague...if she saw him outside of work, she might have swerved to avoid him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This has been kinda like the prologue- the action will begin soon! Thanks for reading!! I can't wait for you to read the rest! As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated! Xoxoxo


	4. AND SHE WAS HAPPY THE WAY THINGS WERE

AND SHE WAS HAPPY THE WAY THINGS WERE

They stayed pretty much that way until the St. Mary case changed it all.

It was nearly two years since Amy had joined the Nine-Nine. Not much had changed-Rosa was still scary, Charles was still overbearing, Jake was still annoying, Gina was still ready to make fun of her at the drop of a hat, Captain McGinley....still loved burgers? (She didnt know. The man wasn't around much. )

And Amy? She was better- better at solving cases, better at finding comebacks for Jake and Gina's incessant teasing. Also, she was dating Ryan, an engineer, having been set up by her mom. He was sweet and kind, and Amy thought it could have been worse. 

"Late again, Peralta," Terry sighed as Jake sprinted into the room, in his usual dishevelled state.

Jake stopped at the door. "Sorry, Sarge, it takes longer to get to the precinct from Queens...why was I in Queens, you ask? Well, the reason is a hot girl named-"

The briefing room groaned. Terry pursed his lips. "Whatever, Jake, that's no excuse-"

'Well, I think four orgasms in one night can be an excuse for-"

"Peralta! Sit the hell down, man!" Terry muttered angrily.

"So fucking hot," he mouthed to Rosa as he took a seat in the empty chair next to Amy, then turned around to high- five Boyle.

Amy rolled her eyes. This was nothing new. She'd gotten used to it.  
"I always wonder, Peralta-" she began, as Terry ruffled through his notes, thrown off by Peralta's scandalous entry. " Why do you always have to announce your escapades like that? I mean, it's easy to wonder what you're _overcompensating_ for..."

She enunciated the word clearly and gave him a pointed look as it slowly dawned on him what she was insinuating.

"Santiago-" he spluttered, clearly caught off-guard. "If you are getting jealous, I'm sorry, I'll hide my flourishing sexuality from you next time." 

"Me? Jealous? You wish, Peralta." She scoffed.

She caught Rosa flash a impressed smile. She'd won this round, Peralta was more flustered than her. She knew he would get back at her, but right now, she basked in the glory of her rare win.

Terry cleared his throat. "Alright squad, now that Peralta has joined us, let's do case assignments-  
Boyle - here - it's a insurance fraud case.  
Diaz - armed robbery at DERT bank, you'll be working with the 95 on this-" Rosa scowled. She hated working with strangers.  
"Hitchcock- hey Hitchcock, put your shirt back on man!" Hitchcock, not used to being assigned cases, was showing Scully a worrisome boil on his back. 

Terry threw him a disgusted look and shuddered. "Santiago, I have a -" 

He broke off, distracted by his phone ringing. He frowned at the screen and went outside to take the call.

Jake turned to Amy- 

"Santiago, how was the crossword last night? I mean, if you were wondering about me- your words not mine "- he added loudly as she opened her mouth to argue- "it must have been pretty boring. Have you complained to the Times yet? Maybe you'll get a free copy on your birthday..."

"That's not how newspapers work, Peralta, you get one every single day, maybe you would know that if you weren't so busy watching the same movie over and over again."

"Not my fault all my dates have never watched Die Hard!"

"Urgh, do you make _all_ your dates watch Die Hard? God, you're such a-"

"At least I go on dates, Santiago-"

Terry came back at that moment, and the two detectives turned their disgusted faces away from each other. "Well, that was the Deputy Commissioner. There's been a suspected murder at St. Mary's."  
He looked at Jake and Amy.  
"Peralta, Santiago you'll be  
working this together." 

Both erupted in joint groans.

"Hey! If you don't want to, one of you can back off and switch with another detective!"

Both of them stayed silent...a murder case handed over by the Deputy Commissioner? That was huge! No one would be stupid enough to let this opputunity pass them by!

"Yeah. I thought so." Terry continued. "Come meet me in the break room. Rest of you, get to work."

Jake and Amy quickly stood up and followed Terry, trying, but not trying, to get there first. Like I said, very competitive. 

Terry eyed them warily.

"Okay, listen carefully. St. Mary's is a huge private hospital. It's where billionaires go to get their colonoscopies. They have a lot of influential people: politicians and actors and businessmen on their patient list. The staff at the hospital know this and they are proud of it. I don't know how the case is going to be, but the hospital board may not always be on your side.They are money- and prestige- minded people and that comes first for them. Do you understand what I am saying? There is a reason the DC is involved. A small misstep could turn out to be a PR fiasco. They wanted two smart, but relatively less conspicuous detectives on the case."

Jake and Amy nodded, trying not to look too excited.

"Right - so the case. A medical resident, Dr. Sid Hale, was found dead in the resident doctors' lounge at 6:30 AM today. Doctors there examined him and said it looks like poison."

"So...Suicide?" 

"That's what they're saying...I'm sure they wouldn't even have called the cops, hadn't it been for protocol! Anyway, be careful, if these executive types are against you, they can make your lives hard. "

\-----------------------------------------------------

Amy slammed the car door shut as they got off outside the hospital. Jake had insisted on singing along to Taylor Swift for the last quarter of an hour. She was not pleased.

It was calm and silent outside the hospital. The four storey building was sprawled across a very large area, and from the outside, looked more like a old-timey mansion than a hospital.

"Doesn't look like someone just died in there," Amy remarked.

Jake let out a laugh. "Santiago, this is a _hospital_ , people die here, like, all the time -" 

"Yeah, right, sorry," she replied cutting him off, her cheeks burning as she realised what she'd said.

Sensing her embarrassment, he turned to look at her at the same time she snuck a glance at him, hoping he'd gotten over the joke. Their eyes met and they giggled.

"You know what I meant, Peralta!" Amy insisted.

"Sure, that's some ace detecting there, Santiago - " 

"Oh, shut up!"

She grabbed him by the sleeve of his leather jacket and pulled him inside. 

_-seven hours later-_

Jake and Amy sat in the car outside the hospital. They were silent for a good five minutes, before they burst out simultaneously-

"What the hell-"

_"I can't fucking believe-"_

"They moved the body-"

"They were so rude-"

_"So bloody mean-"_

"There's something _fishy_ here!"

They went on for a couple minutes till they were all ranted out, red faced and breathless.

They knew that most people's attitude to cops was not a favourable one. Everytime they went for an interview, they braced themselves for being taunted, jeered at, insulted. 

But today was _too much._

The staff had sent them about in circles till they found the site the body was found. Here, they found the body had been moved multiple times, without police being present. They had not allowed the CSI and forensics to enter the scene to examine the body till 3 PM! Amy called Terry to complain, but all he said was -' let the hospital do what it wants. I want this over quickly.' And hung up. 

Plus, their interviews had pretty much led to nothing. Finally, at 6PM , they had been unceremoniously asked to leave.  
Multiple times. 

They'd equally rudely promised to come back tomorrow and had stomped back to the car.

"You know what, let's get back here tomorrow and regroup and take it from there," Jake said." I could rip someone's hair out now."

"Why,Peralta, in a hurry to get back to Queens?" Amy asked sardonically.

"Well, Santiago, aren't you in a hurry to get back to your dorky boyfriend?"

Amy scowled at him. "You're just jealous I have a boyfriend. "

"Oh no, yeah, definitely, I wish I had a boyfriend too," he said, exaggerating his words and fake-pouting.

"Well, how is sleeping with girls from Queens going to help you achieve that?" Amy asked, a smile playing on her lips for the first time in hours. 

"Well, aren't your comebacks on fire today?" Jake muttered bitterly, real pouting this time. 

"They always are, Peralta, but your head is so far up your own ass, you can't hear." She said lightly, shifting the car into drive. 

"Whoa, Santiago, save some for my funeral, won't you?" Jake whined, slouching into his seat.

But Amy had switched back into business mode. "I'm thinking, let's go back to the precinct and organize the data we have- "

"Which is not a lot-"

"No, but there's a lot of weird things about this case...maybe putting out thoughts in order will help to clarify some things."

"Like why no one seems to know anything about anything?"

"Well...there'll be a lot of reading between the lines involved-"

"Aah, reading! My absolute favorite thing to do after a full day of work. Well, step on the gas, Santiago, we have much reading to do!!"

Amy rolled her eyes, something she found herself doing quite often with Jake, and stepped on the pedal.

She had a nagging feeling that Jake and her were in for a long night.


	5. AND SHE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THAT FEELING

AND SHE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THAT FEELING

"Hey, you wanna get dinner before we get to the precinct?" Jake asked, fiddling with the radio.

"Let's just get something delivered to the precinct...I really want to get this case over with." 

Jake brightened. "Cool, let's get-"

" No, Peralta! Not one of your abominable pizzas!"

"Santiago, if you don't like pizza, you aren't human, I said what I said-"

"I like pizza, what you order is a disgusting slab of cardboard with cold cheese. I'm ordering Chinese, okay?"

"Cool, but since you chose, you have to pay!"

Amy snorted. "Jake, I saw you order another massage chair last week, I would have had to pay even if you'd ordered your crap pizza!"

"Oh, when will you stop stalking me, Santiago-" 

She talked over him, louder, " - and don't think I haven't kept track of how much you owe me- you have to pay me back eventually, Peralta, or else..."

"Or else what? You'll stalk me?" 

She threw him a dirty look but didn't reply. He chuckled and upped the volume to Toni Braxton. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

It was 12 AM and Jake and Amy were _done_. They'd made zero progress. 

Jake watched as Amy rejected a call for the third time that night.  
"What is it, Santiago? Boyfriend troubles?"

Amy didn't even glance up. "None of your business, Jake."

"Well, since you know about the Queens Hottie, I think I have every right-"

"But I am absolutely _not interested_ in your love life, Peralta." Amy cut in, giving him a world-weary look.

"- To know about your relationship troubles." He said, ignoring her.

Amy rubbed her eyes. "There is no trouble, okay? Like I said, I want to get this case over with. Terry seems really worried, and I want no distractions. That's it! Quit bugging me!"

"Whoa, who's overcompensating now? "

Amy had to fight back a smile. It seemed her comment that morning had really gotten to him. 

"Still you, Peralta, " She grinned at him cheekily. "Still you."

Two more hours passed. Amy hadn't moved from her desk and her legs were going numb.  
Jake, who couldn't sit still for long, was pacing the breakroom, occasionally muttering to himself, picking random things up and fidgeting with them. 

Finally, he came out of the room and dropped into his chair, groaning loudly.

Amy didnt look up as she turned a page.  
"What is it, Peralta?"

"Come on, Amy, let's discuss this in the briefing room, I can't read anymore, why don't we go through it together?"

"Because, the last few times we did that didn't work out very well ,did they-"

She remembered coffee mugs being thrown and staplers being dismembered.

"What- oh yeah, I owe you a stapler, don't I? - anyway, I'm too tired to be stubborn, c'mon -" Jake waved the bunch of papers in his hand in her face.

Amy ducked to avoid his attack. She was too exhausted to argue and too sleepy to care.

"Fiiiiiine." She groaned and followed him into the breakroom. She found herself wondering if she should have just pulled a Hitchcock and rolled herself in behind him. 

"Okay, so let's go back to the beginning - tell me the story Santiago, I cannot look at paper anymore."

Amy sighed and began - 

_"Dr. Hale was found dead in the doctors' lounge at St.-"_

"Urgh, Amy, do voices! You sound so booooring."

Amy threw a paper clip at him.  
"Shut up and listen!"

"Shut up and listen-" he mimicked in a high pitched voice.

Amy ignored him and went on.

_"Dr.Hale went to sleep in the lounge at around 1AM. One of the nurses found him today morning at 6:00 AM, when she went to call him because a patient was in distress. She and a few more of the nurses tried to wake him but he didn't respond, so they call the doctors, he was declared dead on the scene._  
_They found a bottle of sleeping pills next to him, it was empty and had his name on the label. The pills were prescribed to him by a doctor 3 months ago, he'd said he had trouble sleeping because of the stress of the job and the weird hours.  
Dr. Hale did is -was - from Massachusetts, bright kid, got all the scholarships, went to the best colleges in the country-" _

"Get on with the story!"

"This is important, Jake, focus-

_Basically, Hale was a genius, he was close to his family back home. We talked to all the nurses, we talked to the doctors, even the patients - everyone said he was always very kind, compassionate to the patients, gave them lots of time. His parents said he was happy. There is no history of trauma or sadness in his life! He lived on his own, no girlfriend, didn't have a lot of friends in New York, most of his friends are back home, and they agreed to the fact that he was a really nice guy, really simple and sober, not even a single person has described him depressed or sad or angry. The mode of death makes it seem like suicide. Preliminary forensic report at 7:00PM says he was killed by overdose of sleeping pills, further evaluation awaited.  
The last person he talked to last night was the nurse on duty. At 12AM he told her he was going to take a nap. She never saw him after that."_

There was a pause in which both of them sleepily stared out into space.

"There are no security cameras in the hospital because it caters to really high profile patients, who prefer not to be recorded. Which- no one does, but these guys have the money and power to actually do something about it. So we have no visual of what was going on inside. Apart from everyone saying that he seemed like a really happy person,all evidence points to suicide."

Jack sighed and rubbed his face. Whenever Amy did that, her mom used to swat her hands away, tutting. " _Aye stop, you'll get early wrinkles!"_ Amy was seized by a sudden desire to do that to Jake.

"Santiago, it really does seem like a suicide. What's stopping us from calling it one?"

"I know, right? I can't put my finger on it, but there is _something_ weird about this case!"

"I agree."

"You do?"

" Yeah, that's why I am still here-" he throws the paper clip back at her. " Nobody at the hospital seemed to care that a doctor had died! Maybe it's just because they look at death everyday..."

"It's different when it's one of your own! We see murdered bodies everyday, I would stiill care if you died!" 

"Awww Santiago, do you love me?"

She rolled her eyes.

"So keep working?"

"Keep working." He shrugged, reaching for his rubber band ball.

"Let's go over these interviews again..."


	6. AND THEY WORKED TILL 4AM BEFORE THEY DECIDED TO GO HOME

AND THEY WORKED TILL 4AM BEFORE THEY DECIDED TO GO HOME

Next morning found Amy leaning against her car outside St.Mary's, eyes bleary from lack of sleep, checking her watch and tutting at regular intervals.

She frowned when she finally saw Jake jogging towards her, hair pointing in various directions.

"Thanks for being on time, Peralta," she muttered, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"Good morning to you too, Santiago!" Jake replied, uncharacteristically chipper for four hours of sleep.

"Shut up, Peralta. I honestly cannot believe how irresponsible you are! Terry told us literally _ten times_ we have to solve this soon!" Amy raged at him.

Jake made a sulky face, "Cool it Santiago, it's not like we're changing the world with this case." 

Amy balled up her wrists."It's this attitude of yours, Jake, that-" 

He let the hospital door bang in her face. 

"Son of a bitch." she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. He didn't react. 

They walked in silence. Well, Amy was silent. Jake was singing one of his ridiculous made-up songs. 

"Hi, we're supposed to meet with Dr. Reiter today?" Amy said to the receptionist, pulling out her badge. 

"Dr. Reiter is in a meeting right now, I dont know how long he'll take-"

"He told us to come in at 9:30..."

"Well, it's 945," she raised her eyebrows. 

Amy threw a furious look at Jake. 

Jake sauntered to the front of the desk, pushing a file off to rest his arm on the surface. Amy rolled her eyes. 

"Yeah, it's my fault we're late, its just that my neighbor - this old lady - needed some help fixing her laptop - I'm good with computers- and I _just couldn't_ say no, poor darling, her sons don't come around anymore- "

"Aww that's sweet of you," said the receptionist, smiling coyly at him. 

"So, when will Dr. Reiter be done?" Amy interrupted, stepping in to stop the nonsense. 

Jake and the receptionist shared a knowing look. Amy caught it. Vaguely, she thought that Jake Peralta was the most annoying person in the world . 

"I'm not sure, why don't you wait outside in the hallway, I'll let you know when he's done?"

"Sure, see you ....?" Jake looked at her expectantly.

"Layla." _Did she just wink!?_

"Bye Laylaaaaaaa-"

Amy watched him looking over his shoulder at her. She shook her head in disgust. 

"Thanks for cockblocking me there, Santiago," He said airily, without a trace of annoyance. Amy could tell he was saying it just to annoy her.

"Whatever, Peralta, we dont have time for this," she hissed at him. 

"I was just trying to get her to help! " He protested weakly.

They stopped speaking suddenly when a baseball rolled out from...somewhere. Jake bent down to pick it up . It was followed by a small boy, aged probably between eight and puberty, ( Amy wasn't that great with kids, despite having a long, growing list of nephews and nieces) with brown hair and glasses. Amy saw him eyeing their guns and badges before fixing on the ball in Jake's hand.

"That's mine," he said, holding his hand out. 

"Are you allowed to play in hospital corridors?" Amy asked him.

"Pshawww, Amy, don't be a booooreee!! Here, kid," he threw the ball. It went widely off aim.

The kid stared at him.

Amy giggled. "Wow, remind me why you aren't a baseball player, Peralta." 

"Because my dad left me and my mom and my little league team, so- "

"Are you working on that murder that happened yesterday?" The kid piped up abruptly.

"It's none of your business, kiddo-" Amy began. 

"Yeah..." Jake said slowly, completely disregarding Amy. "Yeah we are. Do you know anything about it?"

_"Jake! "_ Amy whispered angrily. "What are you doing? "

He pulled her to the side. " Didn't you hear what he said? _Murder!!_ Why did he say murder and not death? "

"That doesn't mean anything! Kids his age are obsessed with obscene and creepy things like this- "

"No, the way he said it, like it's been discussed before-"

Amy sighed. He did have a good point. "Let's ask him, then."

"Hey, kid, you have any adults with you? Where are your parents? Don't you have school?" Jake began, leading the boy over to a row of chairs.

"My dad died when I was eight and my mom is a patient here. Cancer." He added affably. "I go to boarding school in New Jersey but I've been home for the past week because mom is sick. " His face fell for a minute, but the indifferent mask came on immediately. 

Jake and Amy exchanged stricken glances.  
"Oh, hey, I'm so sorry- "

He brushed it off.

"Can I help you guys? I'm in the hospital all day, almost, and I'm friends with all the nurses and doctors! Dr. Reiter let's me stay here because he's my uncle."

That definitely got Amy's attention. "Well, what can you tell us? "

"I heard two nurses talking that they didn't think he killed himself but that actually someone killed him!" 

"Really?Did they say who it was?"

"Well, no, but I can ask around- "

"No, it's fine- " Amy frowned.

Jake was a bit more enthusiastic. "Sure kid! Here, I'll give you my number, Amy hand me your notepad, please- "

"Why did you assume I have a notepad on me? " She exclaimed, hand going to her jacket.

"With Gina it's hair dryers, with Rosa it's axes and with you, it's notepads and unnecessary stationery. Gimme."

She pursed her lips as she took it out of her pocket along with a pen. "Not so unnecessary now, is it?" she muttered under her breath.

Then, louder, "I don't think we should be involving a kid in this, Jake- "

"Pleaaaaseeee! I'm not a baby! I can help!" The kid turned to make puppy dog eyes at Jake, who immediately melted.

Jake handed the piece of paper to the kid. " Here. Call me if you see anything strange. I'm Detective Jake and this is Detective Amy. We work at the 99th precinct." 

"Cool! Here, I'll write my number too- so you can call if you need anything!"

Amy shook her head as she handed the notepad to him and watched as he painstakingly wrote out his name and number. She pocketed it quickly, when she saw the door to Reiter's office opening. It was Layla. 

"He can see you now!" she said, mostly to Jake.

"Thanks Laylaaa!" Jake gave her a simpering smile. 

Amy ignored them this time.  
Dr. Reiter was a bigger problem than Jake.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Make this fast, detectives, I don't have a lot of time."

The man sitting in front of them, Dr.Reiter, was only 60 years old, but his grey hair and the harsh lines framing his face, along with his hardened expression, made him seem much older. 

"What can you tell us about Dr. Hale?" Amy began.

It was her turn to shine. Jake did well with younger receptionists whereas Amy worked best with older authority figures. ('Its because you are basically one,' Jake always teased her.) 

"He was a fine doctor, pretty smart, a bit nervous- sad he went and did this to himself." He frowned slightly.

"We heard you were his mentor...didn't he show any-"

Dr. Reiter scratched his beard. "Well, no obvious signs. He got worried easily and sometimes that would affect his work. Three months ago, he told me he was having trouble sleeping and I wrote a prescription for Zaleplon for him, because a sleep deprived doctor is not good for patients."

"So, can you tell us about the last time you saw Dr. Hale? Umm," she checked her notes, "someone mentioned you went out for dinner that night? "

"Yes, we did.He wanted to talk about something, so we decided to go to dinner at Le Cirque, following which I went home, and Dr. Hale came back to the hospital."

"What did he want to talk about?"Jake butted in.

"About a research project he was interested in. It is an ongoing project at Manhattan General Hospital, he wanted to bring the program to our hospital as well."

"How was he at dinner?" 

"Pretty excited about this project.He had some great ideas. I told him we'd work out the details in the morning." 

"Did he drink a lot during that dinner?"

"No, he was on call, he had to go back to the hospital, like I said."

His phone rang, and he didn't even look at it before politely but firmly excusing himself. Which meant Jake and Amy were thrown out of the room. 

They slouched out, Jake muttering a very unenthusiastic 'bye' to Layla. 

They found the kid waiting for them outside.  
"Hi!" He began brightly. "Do you know anything new? "

"Kid- what's your name? "

"Henry!" His wide-eyed stare told them how very excited he was.

"Well, Henry, we can't tell you all our secrets, can we?" Amy said easily, trying to stall.

"Yeah, in case I'm compromised," he nodded knowingly.

"...right," Amy said, slowly, stopping Jake from making another ridiculous statement and starting a police-police game in the middle of their investigation. 

Jake was undeterred. "Well, we're off to do some more detecting, let's you and I split up and gather some more intel, then regroup, do you copy, Detective Henry?" 

The door to Reiter's office opened and he stepped out, stopping cold when he saw them. 

"Hello, Henry," He said, and without waiting for a reply, walked away. 

"Do you think he heard us?" Jake whispered, sticking his bottom lip out. 

Amy was _not_ thinking that, but all of a sudden she couldn't think of anything else if she tried.


	7. AND AMY BEGAN OBSESSING ABOUT HOW HARD THEY HAD BLEW THE CASE

AND AMY BEGAN OBSESSING ABOUT HOW HARD THEY HAD BLEW THE CASE

_"You really shouldn't have involved the kid in this, Peralta!"_

"What? Listen, he's bored in here, and he needs a distraction. I dont expect him to find anything useful, but he might tell us something we need to know! Also, I felt bad for him...mom sick, dad gone; come on, Amy!!!"

Amy knew it was a bad idea. Well she didn't _know_ it then, but it left a bad taste in her mouth.

Jake, sensing her discomfort, tried to push his point further home - 

"Santiago, he's a kid, he'll probably run off with his ball and forget about it in no time, are you really going to waste your time being upset about this? Because-"

The door opened, and two young doctors clad in white coats and exhausted smiles entered the room.

"Hey, detectives, is there a problem-"

"No, no, not at all!" Amy began."We already asked you pretty much everything yesterday, so this won't take long. Just a couple of follow ups- "

They didnt sit down. They clearly had better work to do. 

Jake and Amy exchanged a dubious look.  
"Ermm, okay, so, can you tell us anything about Dr. Reiter?"

It was their turn to exchange a dubious look. Jake immediately caught on. "Hey, nothing from this conversation leaves the room, so don't hold anything back-"

The shorter resident doctor laughed. "I doubt it would make a difference, Dr. Reiter is always in a bad mood."

Her taller colleague frowned at her, clearly not falling for the 'nothing will leave this room' line. 

"He basically runs this hospital, our patients are people used to getting what they want, and he is always overworked. And like any boss, I guess he takes it out on us sometimes. But he is a brilliant man, he's revolutionized treatment for liver cirrhosis, did you know that?"

"He's also revolutionized 'working hours' to mean 28 hours a day, so there's that," the shorter one chimed in, letting out a bark of laughter.

Jake laughed. "Wow, Santiago , 28 hours a day, this guy seems like your type - is he single?" The last part was whispered to the two doctors. 

Amy had to restrain herself from punching him on the arm. She continued "Well, you're saying he...wasn't the best, did he take you out to dinner often?" 

At that , they both burst into laughter. 

_"Dinner!?"_ Even the taller one looked incredulous now.

"Dr. Reiter? Never. He would probably tell us to _skip_ dinner to do work. Take us out for dinner? No."

"Well, he took Dr.Hale out for dinner- "

"What!?"

"He said it was to talk about some research programme he was interested in."

"Well-" they looked at each other "-it could be possible, I mean it seems unlikely, but Hale was always a go- getter, he wanted to be the best...he could have convinced Reiter..."

Amy identified with that. 

"Is that all, detectives?" The taller one asked pointedly.

"Yeah, thank you!"

Before leaving, the shorter one added - "And - I know what we said, and it's all true, but Dr. Reiter honestly cares about his patients as well. He can get moody sometimes, but he's caring at heart..." 

_Silence_

They left the room with sheepish smiles. Jake and Amy looked at each other, wondering what to make of the doctors' statements. 

Amy's phone rang. _Terry!_ She made a guilty expression before placing her phone face down so she wouldn't have to see the incoming call. Unfortunately, Jake noticed.

"Santiago?! Ignoring a superior officer's call!? What is up with you!?" 

He extended a hand, as if to feel her temperature but she beat it back with the file in her hand. 

"He's going to ask about the case and I have nothing to tell him, Jake! Then the case will go higher up and those people are going to do exactly what the Deputy Commissioner wants, label it a suicide and move on. I don't think that's the solution." 

Jake looked at her curiously.

"What!?"

"Nothing, it's just...I never thought I'd see you basically _defy orders_ because you felt differently about a case...."

"I know you think I'm just a evidence-collecting suck up, Jake, but I am a good detective and I _do_ like helping people. So keep your thoughts to yourself."

She got up and started gathering her stuff. 

"What- no, I don't think that! I mean, suck up, yes, but that's because you are a suck up!"

"Whatever, Peralta." She sighed as she left the room, Jake at her heels. 

She opened the door and ran right into Dr. Reiter.

"You people are still here?" He asked, but it was less of a question and more of a displeased observation. 

"Oh- yes, just going over a few things-"

"Is there no space for it down at your police station-" he said coolly, lifting his eyebrows.

Jake could feel Amy shrinking beside him. He himself didn't bat an eyelid, he had no such qualms about being disrespectful to authority. 

"Well, we're not completely satisfied with all the data we've got, so we decided to set up shop at the scene, to make sure we don't leave anything out. Speaking of which, the last time you saw Dr.Hale was at that dinner ,right?"

"I've already talked to you detectives."

He started walking. Undeterred, Jake sauntered along next to him.   
Amy put a hand over he eyes. He was going to get the both of them in trouble. 

"Did you and Dr. Hale go out for dinner often?"

"What are you implying ,detective?"

"Implying? Nothing! It's an innocent question!"

"No, we did not. I am not in the habit of fraternizing with my juniors. He wanted to talk just as I was leaving for dinner, so I invited him along so as to not miss my reservation."

"You could have talked some other day?"

"He was insistent. I am a busy man."

"Reservation? Who were you going to dinner with?"

"By myself." He pursed his lips. He offered no further explanation.

"Well, what-"

"I'm sorry officer, like I said, I'm a very busy man, you'll have to excuse me." Saying so, he entered a room on their left and banged the door in Jake's face.

"Ow!" he jumped back, rubbing his nose.

"If only your nose wasnt so long, Pinocchio. Maybe you should cool it with the lies." Amy giggled as she walked past him.

"You're a racist and a meano, Santiago," he muttered as he overtook her. 

She caught up as they walked to the car, wondering what their next course of action should be.

Her phone rang again.

She sighed,bracing herself, as she picked up.

"Hel-"

"SANTIAGO. _WHY ARENT YOU PICKING UP MY CALLS!?_ I JUST GOT A CALL FROM THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, APPARENTLY YOU AND PERALTA HAVE BEEN DISRUPTING FUNCTIONING AT THE HOSPITAL-"

" _What!?_ We did literally nothing-"

" THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER _COMPLAINED,_ SANTIAGO. YOU THINK THAT'S OKAY?! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE, I'M GIVING THE CASE TO THE HIGHER UPS "

"WHAT!? Sarge, no, come on, give us a few days - "

Jake grabbed the phone from her.  
"Sarge, just give us until midnight."

Amy's jaw dropped. 

"We'll find something, just hold them off for a few hours, look, its 1 PM now, we have 11 hours, we'll find something, please, Sarge? We're close! " He fibbed, trying to wink at Amy. He was being far too brave.

Terry sighed. Amy could picture the man massaging his forehead. "I'll see what I can do, Peralta, but you have to come back to the precinct immediately!! "

He hung up before Jake could reply.

"Let's not go to the precinct immediately," Jake declared.

Amy dropped her head into her palms. They were screwed.

\---------

130 PM

_At Le Cirque_

Amy was not talking to Jake. She had nothing to say to him. It didn't stop him from keeping up a steady one-sided conversation during the car ride. 

"- that's why I think Taylor Swift has definitely heard about me- " he said, slamming the car door shut.

Jake was interrupted by a deep male voice.

"Amy?"

A tall brown haired man walked towards them.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?" Amy was surprised and a teensy bit annoyed. _Talk about bad timing!_

"Watching you ignore my calls," he said wryly. 

"I'm sorry, it's this case- " she said, sheepishly.

"It's fine. I get it." He waved his hand . "We're out for a company lunch," he said, gesturing towards a pack of suit-clad men sitting at a table inside the restaurant. "Saw you get out of the car, decided to come over and see if you still recognize me."

"We met three days ago! "Amy whined, but she let herself be swept into his arms and receive a rather awkward kiss. She felt extremely conscious of the fact that Jake was _right there._

_Go away, Ryan, go away... ___

__Amy cleared her throat. "We're here for an investigation actually, so-"_ _

__"I get it. Call me soon, fine?"_ _

__"Yeah!" She rubbed his arm once, then immediately turned and walked to the kitchen._ _

__"Whoa, Santiago, that was-"_ _

__"Not a word, Peralta, okay? We aren't those kind of friends. Are we even friends? We're colleagues, and-"_ _

__"We're partners, Amy, as you've clearly forgotten. And partners should have each other's backs-"_ _

__"Yeah, during a stakeout -"_ _

__"All the time, in any situation." Jake finished, following her into the kitchen with a grin._ _

__\-----------------------------------------------------_ _

__They left the restaurant 20 minutes later, with no new leads except the information that : 1.Dr. Reiter was a weird man who liked weird food and had weird friends, but tipped heavily, so no one bothered him, 2. The chef was one tiny kitchen fire away from a nervous breakdown or a heart attack, depending on the condition of his arteries, and 3.Amy's boyfriend was maybe slightly annoyed at her._ _

__Amy was surprised to find that the chef thing bothered her more than the boyfriend thing._ _

__Her whole life, right from the start, revolved around competition. And winning. Rushing in the morning to get to the bathroom first. Fighting to get the good pieces of cake. Getting A's in all her exams.  
Relationships were always secondary. She never dated anyone in high school, she was too focused on getting those qualifications for an Ivy League University. Her first real heartbreak was not from some boy, but from her parents telling her they couldnt afford to send her to Columbia, after sending three older brothers to college, two of those to Dartmouth and Brown , and three more brothers to think about. (Benjamin, the 2nd oldest, was a rebel who had refused to go to college. Her parents avoided talking about him if they could.) _ _

___"You can try for a better scholarship next year, Amy, but honestly, do you really want to waste a year?"_ Her mother stated nonchalantly. _ _

__Amy had swallowed the scream that was threatening to spill from her lips, and had studied Art History at NYU instead. (The Art History Major was a fuck-you to her parents who wanted her to go STEM. _" But what about all those Mathlete competitions we drove you to ?"_ )_ _

__So when Jake said, "Looks like ol' Dave there is a bit pissed," Amy just shrugged and said, "He'll get over it, come on Peralta, we have less than ten hours, thanks to you..."_ _

__"Whoa, that's cold, Santi-"_ _

__Amy stepped on the gas so hard, Jake was thrown back against his seat, effectively shutting him up - but giving him another reason to crib. ( _"Careful, woman, your serial killer is showing!!" " Fuck OFF, Peralta!!!"_ )_ _


	8. AND SHE IGNORED HIS TAUNTS AND DROVE AS SHE LIKED

AND SHE IGNORED HIS TAUNTS AND DROVE AS SHE LIKED

"What do we do now?" 

"Let's get lunch, I only ate gummy worms for breakfast, thanks to you-" 

"You could have tried waking up earlier, that's on you, Peralta-"

But she pulled into a parking spot next to a restaurant. 

"I think we should go to the precinct and- " Jake started, before taking a humongous bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Are you kidding me!? We can't go to the precinct! Terry is at the precinct! We can't escape real conversation with _'helooooo- sorry -what's -that -I- can't -hear- you -I'm -in- a -train' "_

Jake nearly choked on his burger. "Haha Santiago you do that? Damn you're even weirder than- "

"Everyone does that, please can we focus on the matter at hand?"  
Listen, after Dr. Hale left that restaurant at 10:00 PM, he drove back to the hospital, was working till 12. Like 2 or 3 people saw him after that- "

Jake's phone buzzed.

"It's the tox lab- "

"What?! What did they say!? "

"Calm down," he said, slowly scrolling just to aggravate her.

She tutted loudly, then grabbed his phone -

"Santiago! Be careful! It's like you _want_ to stumble on my nudes! "

"I do. And I want to send them to everyone in the precinct." 

"That's hot, you know."

She wasn't paying attention anymore- "cause of death appears to be ingestion of toxin named -" she stopped speaking out loud, eyes scurrying across the words rapidly. 

"Well, this doesnt tell us anything new! "She cried, letting his phone clatter onto the table.

"Careful!" He snatched his phone back. "The only reason we have for suspecting foul play now is the fact that Dr. Hale wasn't suicidal! "

"But we dont know that for a fact- he lived alone and spent most of his day at the hospital. He wasn't especially close to his colleagues-"

"All the patients, especially the long term ones really seemed to like him-"

"He was a good doctor but that says nothing about his mental state- Jake, _are we making a mistake? "_

He sighed, the rush of air ruffling his hair. " The fact that the DC is on our backs about this is making me feel something is not right ."

"Of course, Peralta, but that's probably because of your constant need to undermine authority more than- "

"Ha ha, Santiago, you're right, getting to prove the DC wrong would be fun, but I'm getting weird vibes from that hospital-"

"I know, right!? It looks like an old English mansion on the outside and an abandoned hotel on the inside- "

"You would expect crimes to happen there on the regular- "

"But it's just full of people with too much money who have been introduced to the idea that money doesnt make them invincible- and they don't want anyone to find out-" 

"Santiago, arent you a bundle of laughs today," he said chuckling.   
"Let's go back to the Crime Castle and see if we can talk to some more people? "

In the car, Jake turned the volume up to high and Amy immediate reached over and turned it off 

"Hey! "He whined.

"We need to discuss the case Peralta! I've been thinking, the tox report says he needed to ingest the poison 4 - 6 hours before death, and time of death in the report puts it between 3 am to 5 am. So, ingested between 9pm to 1am? "

"What if it was at dinner? "

"What, one of the chefs?"

"Could it have been an accident??" 

They bounced ideas off one another till they reached the hospital, and braced themselves for an afternoon of some hard -core, good old- fashioned Hard Work.

\---------------

The security guard at the gate threw them annoyed looks when he saw them again.

"Y'all gonna solve this thing soon? Cuz people are gettin' real upset about having the police crawlin' all over-" 

"Oh, Mr." - Jake quickly glanced down at his badge, but it didn't state his name -" um, Guard, we are just doing our jobs of protecting the world against evil - "

"I think you're confusing yourself with Superman, Jake, let's go-" 

"Superman? No way! I would definitely be something out of Marvel- Captain America, or -"

Amy snorted. "With those biceps? Sure."

They walked down the eerily silent hallway, hoping to interview some of the nurses again. 

"Henry?" a very soft voice called out. It was followed by a lady, walking extremely slowly towards them. She smiled as she saw them, and the detectives winced. Even that small action seemed to take her a world of effort. She was leaning too much on her IV line pole, stumbling as she walked. 

"Oh, hello, "Jake began, unfazed, whereas Amy struggled to find the right words. 

"Are you the detectives my son was talking about earlier?", she asked. With every word, her volume dropped. 

"Yes, are you Henry's mom? He's a great kid,very smart." Jake smiled at her, kindly. For a straight-up goof, Jake could be the sweetest person in the room, and he didn't even have to try! Amy wished she had that natural charisma.

"He's too nosy for his own good, he gets bored cooped up in here." She laughed, and then coughed. 

"Ma'am, would you like to sit down? " Amy finally found her voice.

"Yes, I think I should- actually can you help me back to my room? I was looking for Henry, he hasn't had lunch yet! My name is Hannah, " she added as an afterthought. 

"We'll help you find him", Jake assured her, motioning at Amy to help him. They took positions on either side of her, and Amy let Hannah grasp her elbow. With her other hand, she grabbed Hannah's hand. Jake steadied the IV line pole. 

They took her to her room- a private suite with a tiny window and helped her get comfortable. 

Hannah seemed as bored as Henry was, and leapt at the opportunity of having someone to talk to.

"My husband committed suicide when Henry was 6, and it's been just the two of us. But then 2 years ago I got sick, and I've never been completely better. I was in remission for a while, but it came back, 4 months ago. Arthur- Dr. Reiter- helped me get into this new treatment program, but it was very expensive. I rented out my apartment, and because Arthur is my brother- in- law, he let's Henry essentially live here, too. "

"Wouldnt it be better if he took Henry to live with him, though? At an actual house?" Amy inquired curiously.

Hannah shrugged. "He's not that kind of a man . Prefers to be alone with his hobbies. "

"And what are these hobbies?," Jake asked, eyebrows raised.

"Studying, reading, oh, and collecting houses! Land! He has so much property all over New York- and the places are so quirky! Old, haunted , very beautiful though. So many houses and he chooses not to share it with anyone. He's weird, but he's family, and he did help us a lot."

"What do you think happened to Dr. Hale?"

"He was so nice, always interested, very enthusiastic about doing research. On the day he died, he came in here the to tell me he was going to dinner with Dr. Reiter, to ask for an in into a very selective research programme. I wonder if he got it...not that it matters anyway...."

Henry ran into the room at that moment.

"Mom? Mom, can I borrow your phone? I need to- Hey! You guys are here! I was just going to call you- guess what I found!!" 

Jake and Amy looked at each other. 

"What did you find, buddy?" Jake asked excitedly.

Just then a nurse entered the room. She didn't look too pleased to see the detectives. 

"We'll wait outside," Jake said pulling Amy out after him, Henry skipping along behind them.

"Well, after you guys left, I heard Uncle Arthur yell at Layla and when I asked her what happened she said 'that fucking idiot fucking fiired me!" looking extremely pleased to be saying the expletives. 

Amy looked shocked- _"Henry!!!"_

"Well, I don't want to leave anything out, what if it's important?!" He countered with a barely suppressed grin.

Jake sniggered at his words.

Henry took a big breath and launched into soliloquy mode. "I didn't like Layla, so I was happy she got fired. Anyway an hour later, her car was still in the lot out front - it's a red convertible! So I decided to look for her , found her in the doctor's lounge and she was crying, she was telling someone it was unfair she was fired and she would never get another job that allowed her to look at famous guys again. Also -" his voice became hushed suddenly- "she said that she thought Dr. Reiter killed Dr. Hale, because she heard them fighting in his office! And then she came out, and saw me and she was like 'what do you want?' and I am a quick thinker, so I asked her about that red car, and she said Dr.Jenn gave it to her as hush money and I asked her what that is, so she said he gave it to her so she wouldn't tell his wife that he slept with her on his daughter's 6th birthday, but I don't understand- "

Jake stopped him there. "Okay Henry, wow that's a lot of info, kid! "

"What do you feel, isn't he your uncle?? "Amy asked, searching his face.

"I don't like him, mom doesn't like him either. She says he caused dad to be killed. "

"She said that!?" Amy looked stricken.

"Well, sometimes she gets really loopy and says crazy stuff, when she's in a lot of pain, maybe."

"Must be the meds," Amy whispered. 

The nurse came out, eyeing the trio curiously.

"Henry, why don't you wait with your mom? We'll be there in two minutes." Amy told the kid, who galloped away happily.

He went inside and Jake and Amy began whispering ecstatically at each other, gesturing wildly with very animated expressions. 

"So it wasn't just a hunch-"

"It could just be a rumour-"

"Yes,yes, we need proof-"

_"But our guts were right !"_

"We need to tell Terry!"

"No wait, let's get some solid proof first -"

"How do we do that?" 

"Amy- I have an idea, but I don't like it much."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "What is it?"

Jake hesitated. "We can go snooping in Reiter's office! Take pics of any notebooks, or anything? He's old and seems extremely organized, he'd probably have records of everything! _'Dear Diary, it is with great sorrow I must admit that I have erred most horribly.'_ " He followed up with a sombre expression.

Amy laughed."Right, I forgot he was a Jane Austen heroine. Anyway, I think it's a good idea."

"Really?"

"Okay, I don't like trespassing and all,but I don't think it's going to be easy getting a search warrant. We really need a win and this seems like the only-" 

Just then, Amy's phone rang- it was Terry again. She swallowed. And picked up. He'd asked them to get to the precinct roughly two hours ago.

It was worse than she had imagined, and she usually imagined the very worst. Terry raged at her for ten minutes, and at the end, Amy could feel her eyes filling up with tears. Terry finally yelled, "Get back here- now!!" and cut the call. Amy hadn't managed to get a single word in. 

"We have to go back, now." She looked at Jake. 

"No-no we can't!!" Jake looked taken aback at her sudden insistence.

"We don't know if we'll find anything! And if we don't go right now, we'll lose our jobs or worse- get written up!! "

_"Worse?"_

"I'd rather lose my job than get written up and lose my chance of becoming Captain. Come on,we have to leave- "

"Okay, let's just say goodbye," Jake said sullenly, turning the handle- 

And Henry fell out, he'd clearly been eavesdropping- 

"Henry!?" Both of them gave him questioning looks.

"I'm sorry, I was just coming out- " he babbles.

"Sure, kid. Anyway, we're leaving thanks for your help-"

Henry furrowed his brow. "I thought you were going to snoop-"

"You heard that!?!? "

"No...?"

"We can't, our boss is super piss- mad at us, maybe we'll come tomorrow?" Jake shrugged.

"Maybe I can help? I can do it? I play there all the time!"

"What? No," Amy exclaimed incredulously.

"I can! I've been inside before! He doesn't like it, but I'll say my baseball is lost, or - "

Amy stopped him and glanced nervously at her watch. " Okay, you can. Send pictures of anything suspicious, okay? And be careful?? Maybe we'll have something concrete before Terry kills us," she added in a low voice to Jake.

"Wow, Santiago, you really are scared..." Jake had resumed his mocking tone, the one he specifically reserved for a worked-up Amy.

"Well, you were the one who got him involved in the first place Peralta! LET'S GO NOW!!" She cried, and basically sprinted out to the car.


	9. AND SHE HAD NEVER WANTED TO ENTER THE PRECINCT LESS

AND SHE HAD NEVER WANTED TO ENTER THE PRECINCT LESS

Jake and Amy exited the captain's office a whole hour after entering.

They'd been yelled at by Terry, by Captain McGinley (who thought he was yelling at them for eating his pizza, _so that doesnt count!_ thought Jake. _I have to buy him a pizza!_ thought Amy) and the icing on the cake - the DC himself had called - not to yell, just to ask for updates (Terry had wrangled the midnight deadline from him, after all) but hearing his voice made Terry angrier and then he yelled at them a little more. 

He was extremely irked at them for not answering his calls, and he told them to get their story together. He said needed to cool down, and that he was going to drill them till they solved the case, or gave up. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Well, what do- "

"I need to be alone for a while, Peralta, please excuse me- " Amy said primly, walking past him while rapidly pulling on her jacket. 

Jake made a face at her retreating back, and saw Charles watching him. 

"What?" Jake sighed.

"Trouble in paradise? " Charles rearranged his features into what he thought was a wise look. 

"What!? No! What? Shut up!"  
Jake plonked himself onto his chair with a sour expression, wanting to watch funny animal videos to take his mind off the fiasco that he and Amy had barrelled into.

Despite of what Amy said and what he himself projected, he DID care what Terry thought of him, and he'd been shaken by how furious they had made the usually soft-spoken sergeant. 

"Peralta- get Santiago and come to the briefing room- now! We're gonna end this thing." Terry ordered, passing Jake's desk without sparing him a glance.

Jake called, but Amy didn't pick up her phone. He saw Terry's murderous look and decided to go find her. 

He found her in the back alley, her back turned to him. Hearing footsteps, she turned and- 

"Santiago!? _Smoking!?"_

Amy dropped the cigarette in shock -"Me!? What!? No! I- what!?"

"I caught you, Santiago- don't even try!" Jake laughed. "Wow, this almost makes up for the whole Terry thing!!"

Amy stared at him for a long hard second, then finally threw her hands in the air. "Whatever. Fuck you." She fumbled in her pockets , and brought out another cigarette and a lighter, put it in her mouth and lit it. She took a long drag- all while maintaining eye contact- as if daring him to say another word.

"I am simultaneously scared and turned on right now, " he laughed, a little bit nervously. 

She didn't say anything, just continued smoking in silence. 

"Wow, Terry really broke you, huh? He's calling us back upstairs, better hurry. "

Amy sighed and took another long drag before throwing the cigarette to the ground and crushing it with her heel. She walked past him, pooping a mint in her mouth and pulling out hand sanitizer from her purse, not sparing him a second glance. 

He followed meekly in her wake.

_________________________________

Amy stared down at the table, her foot bouncing away relentlessly underneath. 

Jake sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at Terry's thunderous expression.

"Explain yourselves. From the beginning. Don't you _dare_ leave anything out."

They did leave a few things out-  
Like the fact that they'd pissed off a lot of hospital staff, recruited a kid for detective work and still had essentially no proof to justify their _'gut feeling'._

Terry saw through most of their excuses. He knew them too well.

"So...you basically have nothing on him. Except ' _someone heard them arguing about something'._ It could just be a superior yelling at a junior about INCOMPETENCE and INSUBORDINATION. " His voice rose. It was obvious that the 'incompetence' and 'insubordination' were jabs aimed at them. Even though her mind was clouded in a haze of fear, Amy found it in her to hope that only the 'insubordination' was aimed at her, and not the 'incompetence'. 

"Well, it could be about his insurdation-" _("INSUBORDINATION !!"_ Amy hissed) "-but everyone we talked to told us he was a very hardworking and kind person-" Jake said quietly.

"I used to think that about some of my employees too," Terry muttered darkly. Jake was sure he saw Amy's lips tremble.

"It's likely the argument was about some disagreement? We don't have any proof because that fortress is guarded as heavily as Buckingham palace. There are literally no CCTV cameras-" Jake rambled on, trying to buy them some time (also hoping he could form some kind of explanation along the way, because he had no idea where his monologue was heading.)

"Okay." Terry sighed and checked his watch. It was 5 PM. 

"Let's go through everything again," Terry said, pulling their notes towards him." We're not leaving until we solve this thing and if we can't, YOU are calling the DC to apologize. "

An hour later, they'd made almost no headway. Jake kept surreptitiously checking his phone, hoping Henry had a chance to send something, _anything,_ that would save them from drowning. 

Unfortunately, the third time he did that, Terry caught him. 

"What you looking at Peralta!? Why you not taking this seriously, man!? Damn, I need a break." He pushed his chair back, but ended up pushing the table into Jake who just barely stopped himself from falling. 

"This is going well,"He said in a choked voice to Amy, half hanging off his chair.

She ignored him, her fingers nervously playing with her hair.

Just then his phone rang. 

"Detective Peralta,"- he answered. 

"Detective! It's me, Henry!" The kid sounded out of breath.

Jake put his phone on speaker mode and tapped the table to get Amy's attention.

"Yeah, hi Henry, what's-"

"I found something! But-" 

"But what? "

"He saw me!" 

"What, he who? Hey, are you running? Henry?" Jake was half out of his chair, his hands reaching for the car keys.

"He's really mad!"

There was a scuffling noise on the other end and Jake screwed his eyes in concentration, trying to hear what was going on- 

__  
a sharp thud-  
voices, muffled but loud-  
a yelp-  
another thud-  
silence.  


Amy and Jake stared at each other, eyes wide, mouths open.  
Amy looked ready to faint.

"Did we- did we just listen to the sounds of a kid being caught by a possible murderer?" Jake whimpered.


	10. AND AMY JUST WANTED THE GROUND TO OPEN UP AND SWALLOW HER

AND AMY JUST WANTED THE GROUND TO OPEN UP AND SWALLOW HER 

Amy Santiago was many things. She was a badass, a stickler for rules, type A, obedient , organized, punctual, hard working , creative. Well, she could also be stubborn, anal retentive, a bit overbearing at times. She was afraid to let her hair down but she could drink you under the table if she tried.

One thing she wasn't; was stupid. 

Yet, at this moment of her life Amy couldn't help but feel that she was the biggest idiot on the planet. 

However, It is easier to take out your anger on someone else. And that someone else happened to be- 

"JACOB PERALTA YOU BLOODY DUMBASS-" 

"ME!?! What the hell, Amy!? You are just as-"

"It was your fucking idea, Jake! I said I didn't like it!"

"Well, you didn't do anything to stop me, did you?! Don't blame it on me, Santiago, it's your fault and you know it! You just can't accept you can be anything short of perfect, can you? "

He dropped that truth bomb, and shooting her a murderous look, he left. 

Amy, shaking, put her head in her arms. _What had they done!?  
_

_Breathe, Amy, Breathe_ She told herself, willing her brain to work, willing herself to find a solution. _You're good at solving problems, if only you breathe!_ The walls were closing in on her. She'd woken up that day, mildly annoyed at getting only four hours of sleep but excited nonetheless, of solving a case she'd been assigned by the Deputy Commissioner himself! She had confidence in her and Jake's teamwork, and the last thing she'd expected was the case to go totally out of hand like this - dreams of her picture finally, finally being on the mantel crushed and crumbled before her, giving way to terrifying imagery of a confused and innocent prepubescent face, asking her why she wasn't able to help him.  
Amy tried to block that image by digging her nails into her palms, into the scars formed by years of such nail-digging. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_ her brain unhelpfully supplied. It sounded suspiciously like one of her brother's voices. 

She knew the rates of finding a kidnapped child fell drastically after the first 24 hours. She also knew that she would definitely lose her job and thus her family's respect forever if anyone ever came to know what had happened. 

Amy banged the table and forced herself to think. If Dr. Reiter kidnapped him, he probably won't harm the kid, being his uncle and all. She suppressed the voice that smugly informed her that 'family' hadn't stopped Dr. Reiter from allegedly killing his brother. "It was alleged!" She told the voice. Dr. Reiter hung around the hospital a lot, she recalled Hannah saying. There was a chance Henry was still in the hospital itself, just a bit more tied-up than usual. 

_We have to get to the hospital,_ she deduced, with sparkling clarity. She was convinced that if they got to the hospital in time, they would find all their answers awaiting them. The sinister mansion where the tragedies began was the place where it would all end. 

Moving quickly and with purpose, she took a deep breath and set off to find Jake. Another image of a woman crying over a dead child's body flashed through her mind, quickening her heart beat and shallowing her breathing. Her job didn't matter anymore. 

_"Amy, you are the strongest kid in a house of seven boys," her grandmother used to say. "They have their brains and their muscles, but you have your heart and your soul. You will be able to handle anything, mi amor. I know it. Now here, eat!! "_

Amy gulped down the lump formed in her throat. She would find Henry AND save her and Jake's jobs, if it was the last thing she did. ('What's the point of saving your job if it's the last thing you'll do?' the snarky voice piped up.She tuned it out. )

She found Jake in the bullpen, trying to get Terry's attention. 

"What are you doing? We have to get to the hospital!" She hissed at him, pulling on his sleeve.

"We have to tell our boss we let a child get kidnapped so we can send a search party-" he replied tonelessly. His voice caught on the last word and he swallowed, hard. The events had clearly taken a lot of fight out of him, if he was willing to confess his mistake to Terry.

"NO!! Jake, please, let's try to do some damage control ourselves first!!" Amy pleaded with tears in her eyes. She hated herself for this, she truly did, but panic was clouding her judgement at the moment.

Jake looked at her for a long while, eyebrows raised. "Oh right, your captaincy is at stake - apart from the LIFE OF A KID, of course." 

"Jake, not now- please..." Amy's voice shook. Her legs were trembling, throat dry.

He gave her a hardened look, but followed her downstairs, anyway.


	11. AND AMY TRIED TO THINK, BUT SHE JUST COULDN'T GET HER BRAIN TO WORK

AND AMY TRIED TO THINK, BUT SHE JUST COULDN'T GET HER BRAIN TO WORK 

Amy and Jake drove to the hospital in record time and in record silence. 

They went up to Hannah's room first, but she was asleep, and on waking her, they realised she had no idea where her son was.

"He'll be around somewhere. ..he's so good at entertaining himself, he loses track of time, the poor darling-" 

None of the familiar nurses knew, let alone any doctors.

They decided to comb through the hospital while they thought of better ideas. They needed to be quick, and searching through the entire hospital by themselves would take far too much time-more than they had.

"Fuck this stupid place! Why the fuck wouldn't you put up cameras!? Its 2013!! We're being watched all the time anyway!" Jake cried, running his hands through his hair, harshly.

"I know, there's no privacy left in the world !" Amy muttered bitterly. Her heart hadn't stopped pounding for the past hour.

They gave each other a look.

"Okay, let's find Henry first and we'll argue later, fine?" Amy said.

"Yeah. Except we won't argue later because I don't want to talk to you again! "

Amy grimaced, but dropped it. Now was not the time.

Jake paced around the eerie corridor, hands playing with the badge that hung around his neck. "Okay, so what if we look for the phone...Henry most likely dropped it somewhere..."

"How would that help us-"

"I don't know! Maybe-"

"Jake! we dont have time for maybes! A kid's life is in danger! Due to us, may I add."

"Wow, have you accepted it's 'us', now? "

"Well, it's mostly due to YOUR impaired judgement..." She crossed her arms. And just like that, they were back to square one.

"Whatever, Santiago. You got any better ideas? " He was bouncing on his heels agitatedly. 

Amy was silent for a while . "We can look at footage from stores around this area, see if we can find him?"

"That's also a long shot, the nearest stores are half a mile away, this place is surrounded by trees..."

Just then Jake's phone rang and they both jumped.  
"Is it Terry!?" Amy asked, panic evident in her voice.

"No..." 

(They'd left a note on the desk stating they'd got a great lead and needed to go urgently. Amy swore it was one of the most daring things she'd ever done. _"You've stuck your hand down a perp's throat, Santiago!!" "No, this is worse!"_ ) 

"It's an unknown caller..."  
He picked up.

"Detective Peralta, hello!" It was a man's voice, annoyingly cheery.  
"Hi! How are you?" He continued in the same jovial tone.

"I don't want to invest in your stupid schemes," Jake grumbled, taking the phone away from his ear to end the call.

"Oh, but I think you do want to! It's a very lucrative deal, tentatively titled _Get Henry, Save Your Ass !"_

Jake stilled, eyes wide. Hands trembling, he put the phone on speaker. Amy leaned in to listen, biting her lip.

"I'm listening." Jake replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Well, that's nice! I knew you'd be interested! So, let me tell you our scheme, it has a great benefits for you and your detective girlfriend, for the future-"

"What girlfriend?!" Jake interrupted, clearly flustered. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, isn't the hot Latina your girlfriend? I guess you guys just give out that vibe. Friends with benefits, eh?" 

"No! Shut up and get to the point!" Jake had turned red, whether with anger or embarrassment, he didn't know. 

Amy was watching Jake with an unreadable expression in her eyes. 

"Right! Benefits - a long life, great promotion, career advancement;  
And you have to do only two things!"

"Which are?"

"Well, aren't you keen? Firstly, go to the site where Hale was found. Find the suicide note- Oh, you'll find one this time - give it to your boss. Close the case. Then, bring the case files to me. Take Henry back, if you've done everything right."

"That's many things- " Jake began to speak.

"Oh, detective, I'm sure it won't be a problem for you. I'm not done yet. We will have called Henry's mom to ask for ransom. Police will be here looking for him, but you two will 'find' him. You will be saviours! Get medals from the commissioner. Exalted police officers. Heroes of the community. The works.  
End of story. "

Stony silence followed, on both ends.

"Peralta, do we have a deal? "

"Urgh, excuse me, if you think you can bribe me with a medal -" Jake retorted, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

"Jake!" Amy hissed, and hit the mute button. "Think before you make a big proclamation!"

"What is there to think about!? We don't make deals with criminals, Santiago, rule number one of being a police officer-"

"Actually, rule number one is-" Amy adopted what Jake called her teacher voice.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, but you can't possibly be considering this!?Just take the deal and completely drop the case? This guy is a murderer and a kidnapper! He has proven he can go to any lengths, what will he do next?! "

"Jake, we've already gotten into more trouble than it's worth -"

"So you want to take the easy way out?! I can't believe you, Santiago."

Amy's eyes flashed with anger and Jake fought back the urge to take a step back. 

"We've dragged a kid - a kid who is the _only family_ of a woman dying of cancer- into this. We've disobeyed direct orders of the freaking DC of the NYPD. Do you have any idea how bad this is?! It may not occur to your overinflated ego that you've made a mistake, that we needed to stop a long time ago, but if you're going to die on that hill, you're going to fucking die alone, Peralta. You're not dragging me down with you. "  
She was breathing heavily by this point.

Jake huffed out a laugh. "I bet it's just for the appreciation from the NYPD - is this what this is about? You want the commissioner to praise you? "

"Peralta-"

"No wonder you don't have any friends, Amy! You'd sell them out for a pat on your back! "

Both their eyes widened as Jake just realised what he'd said in his bout of anger, and Amy processed the accusation that was thrown at her.

_It is true._ The ugly voice was back -the voice that had haunted her from time immemorial- the voice that made her doubt the littlest of decisions. The voice of her Anxiety. _You don't have a lot of friends. You never give them time, you think you're better than them. The truth is,and always has been, that you're not good enough, for anyone._

_SHUT UPPPP!!_ Amy said to her mind. On the outside, she was still staring at Jake, mouth slightly open, eyes blinking slowly. On the inside, she was waging war with her overthinking mind . 

Jake was still looking at her. His eyes had softened but he hadn't taken back his words. Amy realised with a flash of horror that this was probably what Jake had always thought of her. _A friendless, stubborn, pretentious know-it-all._

She swallowed, and tried to fight down the bile rising in her throat. 

"Jake...getting Henry out is our only priority right now."

Both of them ignored the wobble in her voice. 

"Have you any better ideas?" She continued, massaging her temples. "I'm all ears. "

Jake gave her a long searching look. 

"Not really...but I have something.I really don't want to take this deal, but this guy can think again if he thinks he can just scam the NYPD. "

"Well, tell me...do we take the offer? "

"Not exactly, come on," he started walking towards the door. 

"What, you dont even trust me now?" She said quietly. He probably didn't hear it. 

He took his phone off mute and put it to his ear.

_"We'll take the deal."_


	12. AND AMY RESOLVED TO GET THE KID OUT IF IT WAS THE LAST THING SHE DID

AND AMY RESOLVED TO GET THE KID OUT IF IT WAS THE LAST THING SHE DID

Almost two hours later, Amy was leaning forward to get a better view, chewing on her nails with a worried look on her face. Next to her, Jake was bouncing his foot up and down, his gaze focused on the screen in front of him.

After receiving the call, they had rushed to the doctor's room where Hale had been found. They didn't have to search for too long- underneath the mattress, there was a piece of paper that had DEFINITELY not been there before, when CSI had combed the place. "How are we going to convince CSI that they missed something?" Jake wondered out loud. "They pride themselves on being nothing if not thorough!" Amy sighed. The plan seemed pretty straightforward at face value, but these intricate details could get them in trouble. "We'll just have to be firm that _they_ made a mistake..." Amy was not looking forward to that. They picked up the note with latex gloves stolen from the nurse's station, and read the short but resolute note where 'Hale' had stated that he didn't think anything was worth it anymore. Amy felt a panic attack imminent. "Santiago, it's a fake, remember?" Jake said, looking at her worriedly. "It's not real, it was planted." Amy nodded, puffing out her cheeks and hoping Jake wouldn't notice how fast her breathing had gotten.

Jake worked out a plan to get Henry out safely whilst not letting his kidnappers, who were the likely murderers of Dr.Hale as well, get away. Amy had to agree - it was a good plan.

_Charles and Rosa would bring the case files to the designated place. They would save Henry and they would get the credit._

(At this point, Jake gave Amy a pointed look, as thought waiting for her to challenge him. Amy ignored him silently. She was too tired to defend herself. _Let him think what he wants. I don't care._ She said to herself, hoping that would somehow make her not care. Jake looked taken aback at her (lack of) response but didn't comment.)

_Meanwhile, Jake and Amy would have eyes and cameras trained on the site. They would wait for the people to come out and if possible, sneak in when Henry was out, safe and sound. Rosa and Charles could debrief Henry as soon as he was okay._

They hadn't told anyone about their plan. Only Rosa and Charles knew, and not even the whole story, at that. Their questions were met with "I owe you"; "we'll explain later"; "1000 push ups!!".

The screen they were currently staring at was getting feed from a camera on Charles. They watched as he and Rosa walked toward the house, case files in hand. 

The house itself was a very unassuming single storey, not too far from the hospital. Records showed it belong to a Mr. Matthias Goyal, who had no relation to anyone in this mess. _Probably he was on vacation and these people were using it as a hideout?_

Jake and Amy were hiding in the   
in another house which was diagonally opposite and four houses down. They had telescopes trained on the house. This house belong to a Mrs. Bethesda Cox , who was very old, very deaf, and very oblivious to the two detectives setting up a surveillance system inside her very house.

Amy kept shooting nervous glances at the door.

"Poor dear, I don't want to startle her." She muttered anxiously.

"Amy, chill, we've locked the door, she can't come in. Anyway, those stairs creak like a haunted swing at an abandoned park and she walks slow as hell, we can pack this stuff up and jump out and reach the precinct, even, before she opens the door. Now please can we focus?"

Amy pursed her lips and looked through the telescope. "They're knocking on the door...no response...no response...Okay door opening..." Amy gasped. "He's unconscious!"

They watched with bated breath as Rosa checked for Henry's pulse and then unceremoniously lifted him in a fireman hold while Charles handed the files over. The person taking the files had very small hands and very curly black hair in a pixie cut. She slammed the door in their faces. They saw Rosa and Charles look at each other and turn and run towards their car. They had to get Henry to a hospital ASAP. ( The ransom call to Hannah had been made an hour ago, and she was currently having mics being shoved in her face by reporters. The theory doing the rounds was that the kidnapper knew Dr. Reiter was rich and had decided to extort. )

Jake and Amy kept watch on the house, waiting for signs of movement, waiting for the right moment to storm their hideout. A beat passed, then another. 

"Why do you think they want the files?" Jake asked, breaking the silence.

"That's what I'm thinking, maybe they want to read them and remove all traces of evidence before destroying the files themselves?"

Jake shrugged, scratching his cheek. He clearly hadn't shaved this morning, and the two day old stubble gave him an rugged look.

Jake and Amy were being perfectly civil to each other. From the outside, they seemed like two strangers who had to team up for a project. From the inside, the mixed feelings of anger, righteousness, guilt and utter exhaustion bubbled up in their minds. 

Amy turned her attention back to the telescope. "Jake!" Amy gasped. "They're getting in a car! I can't see it properly, it's a dark blue sedan..."

"Go!" He yelled. "Get our car to the front of this house, I'll try to see what direction they take. We'll follow!"

Amy nodded and barrelled out of the room. Jake heard the stairs squeak in agony as she ran down. He hoped Ms. Cox wouldn't be disturbed from her evening call to her apparently equally deaf sister.


	13. AND AMY FOLLOWED THE BLUE CAR OUT OF BROOKLYN

AND AMY FOLLOWED THE BLUE CAR OUT OF BROOKLYN

They had been following the kidnappers for three hours now. 

In the first hour, they were excited and pumped, and the time rushed by in a blur of adrenaline. 

Things started getting awkward in the second hour, and by the third hour, both of them were bored and tired. It was nearing 12 AM. 

"Where are they goingggg?" Jake moaned, not for the first time.

Amy just grimaced. She didn't have the strength to respond any more.

Jake fidgeted with the radio controls for a minute, but he was all sang out. He sighed loudly and looked around for something else to fidget with. Amy looked at him, all antsy, his pent up energy looking for an escape route. 

Suddenly he bent down and retrieved something from the car floor. "Amy Santiago, do you have stuff lying on the floor of your car? What is up with you!?" She looked over to find him holding a small box. She gasped. 

"Hey! Give that here-" 

"Hmmm, if it's so important, why is it on the ground?" 

He opened it- inside was a ring- made of gold and silver threads intertwined, and a black gemstone set on top. 

"Amy, did Mike just propose ? Oh- are you planning to propose to Mike? Can you have an open bar at your wedding? Do you have any hot cousins?" 

Amy kept her eyes on the road and blindly reached out ,trying to grab the box from his hands. He cackled and held it out of her reach, using his other hand to push back hers.

"Who the hell is Mike, Jake? My boyfriend's name is Ryan, I don't understand why you insist on calling him by the wrong names- it's not even funny!"

"It's hard to remember, Santiago, he's not very memorable, if you ask me-"

"I'm _not_ asking you Peralta. I may be a 'sell out with no friends', but I'm still somehow not as bad at relationships as you are!"

Silence.

Amy looked at him, unnerved by his lack of response.   
When he spoke, it was in a soft voice- 

"Amy, I'm sorry."

Amy raised her eyebrows, surprised.She suddenly felt the urge to gloss over the situation. "Jake, I'm over it, I don't care-"

"But I do, okay? I should not have said it, I didn't mean it, I regretted it the minute I said it. I should have apologised right away, but - "

"But, ego."

"Yeah, that. I'm sorry, okay?" 

"Yeah, me too. I shouldn't have blamed you." She let out a breath she had no idea she'd been holding. 

"The best of us make mistakes Santiago- some ,like me, less than others, but you must-" 

"Jake! Shut up."

-"Learn from your mistakes, and-"

"Jake! Shut the fuck up, man, they're making a turn!"

So far, they had followed the blue car on highways and busy main roads, and even though they had left the city and headed upstate a long time ago, there were just enough cars and trucks on the road to absolve them of suspicion that they were following someone. 

But now, the blue car was exiting the highway, onto a much smaller road, where they would most certainly notice a car following them. 

"Jake, what do we do?" 

"Here, stop on the side-"

"Stop?"

He pulled out his phone, which was tracking the microchip that had been inserted into the case files by Rosa. They hadn't been using it for so long, because following the car was much easier and more accurate, plus Jake's phone only had 7% battery - as usual. 

"Let's see where they go, and follow in 15 or 20 minutes, when they've got a good head start." 

Amy pulled up the handbrake and leaned backward to stretch her back. Then she grabbed the tiny box Jake had left on the dashboard. 

"The ring has absolutely nothing to do with Ryan, by the way. It was my abuelita's. She..she passed away two months ago, and I got it...I've always loved it, ever since I was a kid."

"So you left it in the car for two months? "Jake asked, evidently trying to undercut some of the sadness that had settled on Amy.

Amy chuckled humorlessly.   
"I guess it was just too sad to look at, for a while. I miss her." 

"Oh, hey..." 

"No,no. She was sick for years. Didn't mean it didn't hurt like a bitch, though.She was my most favorite person in the world. "

She didn't look up, not wanting him to notice the tears pooling in her eyes. It had been enough time since her grandmother's death that her family could talk about her without crying, but Amy hadn't quite got there yet. She rolled the ring on her palm for a long while and then finally took a deep breath and slipped it onto her fingers. She held it up to look at it properly and saw Jake looking at her sadly.

"What?" Her voice came out thick and croaky.

"I was devastated when my Nana died, too. It really sucks."

Amy nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. "It does- wait, didn't you get super drunk at her funeral and almost sleep with your hot cousin? " She remembered an extremely hungover Jake, coming into work two days after his Nana's funeral, telling the story of how he'd managed to make 'good' of the crappy situation. It was too early in their partnership for Amy to realise this was just his coping mechanism- telling jokes out loud and suffering silently. 

"Hot neighbor, idiot! And no, that's not true at all. I just went home and spent hours crying to myself- I wasn't even hungover - my eyes were red from all the crying. But that story is boring." Amy briefly wondered when Jake had become comfortable enough with her to admit this. 

Amy shook her head, smiling. "You don't need to brag in front of us, Peralta. We know who you are. "

"Oh yeah? What's that? "

"A massive dork who is as obsessed with boring sneakers as I am with the New York Times crossword!" 

"Urgh, you _wish_ you knew me, Santiago! "

"I really don't..."

"Yeah, well, we know who you are-"

Amy grinned wickedly. "A sell out with no friends, you made that clear -"

"Hey! Thats not true-I told you I didnt mean it, Amy, honestly, I'm sorry !" It was Jake's turn to roll his eyes, when he realised she was just teasing. 

But Amy smiled sadly, and said, quietly, "But you did say it, Jake, and maybe that's because- "

She stopped suddenly, while Jake sputtered and stammered through another apology-

"Hey, hold up - they've stopped!"

Jake threw her an apologetic look before looking down at the screen. " Okay, let's go, I'll try to zoom in to get the exact location- OH FUCK NO- "

His phone showed the 1% battery warning.

"We've only got seconds left now!" He gasped, theatrically. "I have to find the distance from here at least! We can't lose this! Okay, looks like eight-ish miles. Oh, and it's dead. Okay. " He groaned, and buried his face in his hands.

He saw Amy looking at him."What!?"

"Don't be overdramatic, as long as they stay there, it's fine!" She said, turning the key in the ignition.   
"Ready to go?"

"I can't believe you dont have a charger in your car, Ms.Prepared- for -the- Goddamn- Apocalypse!" He muttered in lieu of an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Adventure Begins!!!!!


	14. AND AMY EXITED THE HIGHWAY, FILLED WITH A SENSE OF ADVENTURE

AND AMY EXITED THE HIGHWAY, FILLED WITH A SENSE OF ADVENTURE 

Half an hour later, they were pulling up to a small hillock, on top of which was perched a bungalow.

The road they'd followed to the house was basically through a forest, and in the dark of night, both our detectives were more than a little spooked. 

"Park here," Jake whispered." I see their car midway up. "

Amy nodded, following his finger.  
"Okay. Take your weapon. We'll go stake the house out." She whispered back.

"Hey, Santiago? "

"Yeah?"

"Why are we whispering?"Jake whispered. 

"Let's go, Peralta," Amy said in her normal voice. Then she frowned. 

Jake mirrored her expression."You're right, its weird to _not_ whisper in this situation."

They closed the car doors as quietly as possible, and started up the hill, one arm on their firearms, guided by the faint light coming from the windows. 

In less than 10 minutes, they reached a gate, complete with security system and CCTV cameras. The house was a good 100 feet from the gate. It had 2 floors and a distinct aura of creepiness. ( But that could be because it was in the middle of a forest and it was the middle of the night. )

"There's no one outside. Try to climb the gate?" Jake asked, looking at the big metal doors hesitantly.

"No, looks like it's too well protected, there may be an alarm. Let's try the sides." Amy replied. 

They walked along the gate and the ensuing six - foot - tall wall ,till they reached the side of the house.

Jake reached out a hand to stop her. "There are no lights on this side. Let's try to jump the wall here? "

Amy swallowed. This kind of sneaking around was a cinematic situation. Real-life cops had to take out warrants, because bureaucracy. "We really doing this? "

"It's now or never, Santiago." Jake's eyes gleamed. 

"O...okay..." She eyed the wall, unconvinced.

"Hey, don't worry. Pretend you're in a movie!" Amy rolled her eyes. Jake grinned at the familiar action. "Let's do this! So you wanna climb on my back, or- "

Amy threw him a dirty look, then took a running leap at the wall before vaulting over it. No, it wasn't as cool as it sounded. Her shoulders gave up midway and she fell to the ground with an unflattering thump, face down. But at least she made it to the other side. 

"Okay, yeah, cool cool cool, I can do that too," Jake whispered to himself, momentarily stunned by his partner's gymnastic skills.

Though he was taller than Amy , it took him a few more tries before he too, landed in a disgruntled heap on the other side. Amy tried to pretend she had a much better landing. 

He got up immediately, and nonchalantly started jogging towards the house. Amy rolled her eyes and followed. 

They reached the damp walls of the brick house and started tiptoeing to the back of the house, staying close to the wall. They rounded the corner of the opposite side, and suddenly Jake stopped, causing Amy to crash into him. 

"Peralta?! " 

"Sorry- I can see inside! "

He retreated a bit so Amy could get to see for herself. 

Amy craned her neck. She blinked a few times till her eyes adjusted to the sudden onslaught of bright light, and was greeted by the sight of what seemed to be a living room, with two sofas facing each other next to a fireplace. Amy thought longingly of the heat emanating from it. She should have worn an extra layer.

The pixie cut girl and a tall,lanky man were lounging on a sofa, beers in hand. The file was placed on the coffee table in front of them. It looked like it had been tossed on to the tabletop. The man was staring at the beer in hand, eyelids heavy with sleep and pixie lady kept looking at her watch and pulling faces.

They were waiting for someone...or something. 

She said something to the man, and he shrugged, yawning widely. It made the woman yawn, and this set off Amy too.

"Sleepy, Miss Santiago?" Jake giggled. 

"What?? No- it's because- " She stopped. "Jake!? Dr. Reiter just came in!! "

"What!?" Jake stood up on his tip toes to look over her head.

They looked at each other with barely suppressed glee. Till now, they had zero confirmation that Dr. Reiter had been part of this in any damn way. It had all been speculation and suspicion and evidence-wise, pixie girl was likelier to be the perp. But with the unexpected appearance of Dr. Reiter, the complicated knots of the case could be unravelled, one by one. Now all they needed was proof against him, hot and hard proof, and he was _their's_. 

"Yeah, maybe this is one of his ' large properties in and around New York! " Amy squealed, her mind relaxing for the first time in many, many hours. _They were so close!_

Jake watched as the old man, dressed in silk pyjamas, stomped into the room, clearly pulled from his sleep. He seemed to be reprimanding them about the late hour. The woman didn't look too pleased with his words. 

"Listen, I think we need to find a way inside the house. We can't hear anything. " Amy said,tugging at Jake's sleeve.

"What!? We can take pictures from here? Maybe it would be enough," Jake said hopefully. 

"Awww Jake, are you scared?" Amy teased, surprised by his reluctance. Usually he would be the first to suggest such atrocious ideas( and Amy would usually be the one to shoot him down.) 

"Amy, that girl looks like a trained assassin! Her scowl could give Rosa's a run for her money! Also, Reiter reminds me of- " He trailed off then; Pclearly, he had blurted the words out without thinking.

"Reminds you of?" Amy asked gently. 

"This guy my mom dated. He was....not the best." Jake responded, reluctantly, his expression sour. Amy realised she had to pull him out before he fell further into this funk. So she did what she did best : switched into business mode.

"Okay. Here, take my phone. Take pictures, I'll look around the house for an entry point. "

Jake obliged, and Amy walked to the back of the house, looking for a garden door, an open window. She slipped a little on the wet grass, and rested a hand on the old bricks to balance. She looked around uneasily. The air was definitely _off_ around there, and she suddenly missed the warmth of Jake hovering around her. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, and reminded herself of the mission. She was craning her neck, squinting at the second floor windows, when :

_"Excuse me, are you looking for something?"_

For one second, the world froze. Amy's brain froze. It felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice down her shirt. She couldn't breathe, it was too cold- slowly as she could, hand on gun, she turned, to look at the person who had caught her, expecting to a see a tall, dark, forbidding giant of a man- 

Instead, she saw the round face of a frat boy staring back at her. He didn't look happy- no, he was trying his best to look menacing, but his childlike face put a damper on that. _Had she seen that face somewhere?_

He was jacked, though, and his muscles were almost Terry size, give or take a few steroid doses. 

"Hey," she chirped, a bit loudly, hoping to alert Jake. She walked towards him, with small steps,slowly, "Maybe you can help me?"

He looked confused at her sudde boldness. His eyes widened. "You're the detective from the hospital!" A fraction of a second passed, where they just stared st each other, waiting for the other to do something: he did. Frat boy took a deep breath and bellowed, _"WE HAVE A TRESPASSER!!"_

Amy didn't think before she did what she did next. 

_________________________________

JAKE

He tried to take pictures from all angles possible, those loser DAs in court could use anything to turn a case against them. Once burnt, always careful. 

He crouched down and made his way over to the next window, also providing a view of the sitting room. Just then, Reiter said something loudly, and Jake realised with a jolt that the second window was slightly open- enough to hear something! He turned the camera to video mode and held it near the open window, and tried to get his ear as close as possible. The voices were faint, but present. He closed his eyes to concentrate. 

_"- is this ordeal over now? I am too old for this shit. I deserve a calm life." Reiter was rubbing his forehead._

_"No rest for the wicked, my granna used to say..." Lanky man drawled._

_"Well, son, let the wicked stay awake, so the bloody detectives have something to do, and get their noses out of _our_ business." Reiter put on some gloves before he picked up the file. Lanky man and Pixie stared at him, aghast, apparently realizing that _he_ would escape suspicion. He was meticulous as hell._

_"Sir, we got you the file. What next?" Pixie lifted her boot-clad feet onto the table._

_"Oh, well, read it, look for any loose threads that could compromise the operation, and cut them off."_

_"What about the detectives?" Lanky man asked._

_"Hopefully they'll take the bribe and shut up. Anyway if there's a problem, the DC will tend to it. "_

_"But, I told you - a different pair of detectives brought us the case file- not the ones you sent pictures of! They said the other two were being 'formally reprimanded'. I think they're up to something, though." She took a swig from her bottle before placing it on the table sans coaster. Reiter looked mildly disgusted._

_"Well, I hope that's true. Otherwise, we might have to resort to some drastic measures and do the same as with other loose ends." Reiter stared into the fireplace and spoke almost dreamily._

_"Cut them?" Lanky man whispered._

_"Cut them." He gave a curt nod._

Jake felt a shiver run down his spine. This was getting very dangerous, very fast. He hoped the video clip was enough proof, because they had to get out of here, _now._

He stopped recording and turned around, intending to go after Amy, when he heard it.

_"WE HAVE A TRESPASSER!!"_ Followed by a mighty _THWACK_ and the sound of a body falling to the ground. Jake broke into a run, not caring about the sounds made by the leaves crunching under his feet. He heard the sounds of footsteps on carpet. The people inside had heard. _Shit._

AMY

Amy looked down in horror at the man before her, who she had just punched with all her might. Her knuckles would bruise brilliantly, she could tell. She was a absolutely flabbergasted that she could take him down, but he clearly hadn't been expecting her to fight.

She was still looking at the unconscious figure on the ground in shock when Jake rounded the corner, panting.

"Amy- oh, _thank God_ you're okay- we got to go, NOW!" 

Amy slowly turned to look at him, still in shock. The man on the ground stirred and that seemed to spur her into action. 

She nodded at Jake. "Come on, to the wall!" 

She saw a bench near the wall on their right, and started running towards it. Jake registered with a pang that the bench was easily visible from the window, but he ignored it, they had probably been discovered anyway. 

"Head straight to the car, don't look back!" He hissed at Amy as she checked to see if Jake was following. 

Amy jumped on to the bench.

_Sound of door opening_

She realised Jake was waiting for her to go first and she tugged on his jacket."Together!" she whisper- yelled.

_Footsteps on the wooden porch, murmured words_

They put their hands on the wall and hoisted, their fear giving them strength. 

_"THERE THEY ARE! BASTARDS ARE CLIMBING THE WALL!!"_

Amy fell to the opposite side, Jake still struggling to climb. 

_Shots fired_

Jake fell beside her, and without another word, they ran to their car.

_A large gate creaked open. More shots. More yells._

They rushed down the hill ungracefully, stumbling on the moist ground and slipping on the leaves.

The car came into sight. 

Amy let out a gasp of relief.

Three figures came into sight as they ran down the hill, causing them to slow down in panic. 

Amy recognized them as the people in the blue car plus some more people. Another figure was making it's way through the gate. They were all holding guns. Amy skidded to a stop, and pulled out her gun as well. 

"Fuck, shit, Amy, I think I dropped my gun when I was climbing the wall! "

"Jake, what the hell!? Stay behind me. _Idiot._ "

The man near the car pointed his revolver at her. The woman on his side, smirked viciously (actually Amy couldn't quite make her face out in the dark, but the lady was giving out evil smirk vibes.)

In a moment that seemed to stretch out to infinity and simultaneously was too fast to follow, the woman pointed her gun at their car. And fired.  
Once.  
Twice.  
Thrice.  
4 times.

She kept firing and firing and then suddenly there was a sound like a tiny explosion, and Amy knew the car was one more bullet away from being blown up. She felt Jake's warm breath on the back of her neck. "Amy...the car's done for...let's make a run for it." 

She fired at the man in front of her, but he dodged and began firing back. The other two figures followed suit. 

"Santiago , let's GO!" Jake grabbed her arm and pulled, and she reluctantly turned. _Who wants to run off into a dark forest in the middle of the night?_ Her mind complained, but she had long since realised that they were greatly outnumbered.

But then, a bullet whizzed by, so near her, that she felt the heat on the tips of her earlobe. 

She ran.

They sprinted into the dense woods, a man's heavy footsteps hot on their heels. Amy brought a hand to her ear. It felt wet. "Damn, I think the bullet grazed me! " She panted.

"What!? Are you hurt?!" Jake asked, concern flooding his voice. 

"Still numb, it's going to hurt later. Don't worry, don't stop, keep going!" 

They kept running for God knows how long, adrenaline sustaining them. Amy didn't pay attention to anything else except the sound of her feet on the ground and to dodging the trunks in front of her.

Until Jake caught his leg in a bunch of roots and ended up sprawled on the ground. 

"Jake!?" 

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he groaned, and he pulled himself up with a grimace of pain. 

"I think they've stopped following us..." Amy said, finally paying attention to something other than their pounding feet on the forest floor.

He stilled as he strained his ears to listen. 

"Yeah, can't hear anything." 

"Let's walk slower now, " Amy said, suddenly aware of her heart going off like a jackhammer in her chest and her aching thighs. 

She helped him up and watched as he dusted his pants. 

"Santiago, we're trapped in a forest with no cell reception or food or survival skills! What if we come across a wolf? How long do you think we'll last in here?! "

"Jake, we live in USA in the 21st century, not in 15th century South America. We'll be out pretty soon." She rolled her eyes. 

Jake did not appreciate his concerns being taken lightly. He made a face. "Damn, if you keep rolling your eyes, they're going to get stuck that way! "

Amy giggled. "We are not in first grade, Peralta, even though your brain still clearly belongs in elementary school. "

Jake blew a raspberry at her, and she shushed him indignantly. He chuckled at her reaction and they walked in silence for a while.

"Santiago?" 

"Hmm? "

"Do you think they'll find us? "

Amy looked at him. She had been worrying about the same thing.

"I think we've lost them...for now. We have to keep going till we get to the precinct, any precinct. Did you get pictures? "

"Video with sound, actually!" He grinned.

Amy almost clapped her hands in joy. "That's great! With any luck, it'll be enough for a warrant and jail time!"

"Yeah...your phone was dying though, so I switched it off."

"You still have it though? Didn't fall with the gun?" She joked, the news having out her in a good mood.

But then Jake gasped, eyes wide. "Oh! Oh...." 

Amy's heart stopped as she watched Jake frantically search his pockets. 

_"Jake!?!?"_ She screeched, and lunged at him, determined to frisk the phone out, not caring that her nails poked him as she dug her hands into his many jackets. _If he lost it, if he dropped the ONLY evidence they had...._

She stopped when she heard Jake snort. She looked up at him.

He was smirking at her, phone in one hand. 

"Sorry, couldn't resist, it's fun to watch _you_ lose control. Now, can you get your hands out of my pockets, please?"

"Urgh, you freaking butthead!! Can't you stop messing around for once!? " And just like that, her good mood was gone. 

Jake laughed. "Sorry Santiago, you're always too riled up to not tease. You need to chill out sometimes, you know? "

"And you need to watch your back, Peralta, I'm going to get you so hard, one day, just you wait!" She snarled at him, then started walking briskly.

He jogged to keep up with her. "Really? Challenge accepted, Santiago. What's the prize? "

She didn't look at him. "Let's get out of this nightmare, and then I'll tell you. Or I'll just show you. You won't know what's hit you!"

"Can't wait ! "He skipped in front of her, his nervousness of a few minutes ago being replaced by that shit eating grin. 

Once again, Amy rolled her eyes.

_Damn, she really did do that too much._


	15. AND THEY TREKKED THROUGH THE WOODS FOR A LONG TIME, IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

AND THEY TREKKED THROUGH THE WOODS FOR A LONG TIME, IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

Jake and Amy wandered through the trees, till they came to a small hill with a clearing at the top. Jake pointed it out and they rushed up, hoping to view the forest better from the added height. 

Amy reached first, Jake following, holding his side and wheezing.  
"How..you..up...so fast?"

Amy grinned at him. "It helps to not eat cold pizza every night, and if the only running you don't do is to said pizza store before said pizza store closes at midnight!" 

"I'll 'said pizza store' your ass, Santiago! " He gasped out.

"What??" She laughed, enjoying his discomfort.

He panted, "and I run behind perps too!!"

"Pshawww. Most of them are addicted to drugs and weakened by-"

Jake had reached her by then, and in an effort to shut her up ,shoved her a bit. She stumbled to the left, still giggling.

Jake pulled his hand back quickly, having touched her cold hand. "Damn, Amy, are you cold? Of course you are. You are wearing less than 4 layers in the open- how aren't you shivering like an addict with alcohol withdrawal yet? "

Amy rolled her eyes at his words- they were a reference to an incident that took place a year ago, when Amy had brought in a alcoholic pickpocket. In her defense, it was very ,very cold that night.

She shrugged. "I am cold but the climbing helped a bit. Be happy I haven't begun to complain yet. "

"I suppose I must give you my jacket," he sighed, shimmying out of the sleeves with an mock annoyed expression on his face.

Amy turned to him to do the usual fake "oh no, its fine-" crap : she really wasn't that cold, and the exertion had helped, but seeing him put on that act of annoyance, she reached her hand out for it.

"Thank you Peralta, I was going to demand it anyway, you finally asked! Maybe there is some hope for you, after all," she said, putting on the jacket and giving him a quick smile.

He stuck his tongue out at her and she laughed. "Stop fooling around, Santiago, we have work to do!" He said, loudly, and went to scout the area. 

Amy hugged her arms to herself, the extra layer filling her chest with warmth. She revelled in the feeling of finally being comfortable and breathed in the lingering scent of Jake on the jacket. For some obscure reason , it calmed her. _It's just the heat._ She told herself. Then she wondered why she had to give herself an explanation.

 _Stop spiralling, Amy !_ She looked around, trying to find a quick distraction, and that's when she happened to glance up. At the sky. 

Time froze once more.

The sky was filled with stars, more than she'd ever seen before. 

She gasped, silently and stared, her mouth open.

She'd lived near or in the city her entire life. She'd seen more stars in textbooks and on TV than in the sky. 

But this sight-

Millions upon millions of bright stars lit up the night sky brilliantly. There was less sky and more stars. Many, many shimmering lights against the contrasting background of the Dark Nothing that was Space. 

_I cannot even begin to describe this._ She thought to herself. 

The sight was so beautiful, she felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. 

Suddenly, she missed someone she never knew. She was nostalgic for something she'd never even had. She was so sad, heart full of longing and at the same time she was ecstatic, she was elated, she was so fucking happy. 

_This is not a sight for mortal eyes._ She decided, lifting a hand to wipe away a lone tear. 

This was making her feel emotions she had never even felt. She was sure she saw a couple of shooting stars- _in real life!! Her mind squealed._

Her heart was aching for something and yet she had never felt so calm, so complete.  
It was a weird feeling to have.  
The tears kept coming. 

Jake's voice brought her out of her reverie. "Down to the right , and we'll find our way out, I think I can see the highway!" He walked back to her, relief evident in his words.

She looked at him approach her, still chattering about...something. She couldn't remember. She couldn't care less.

"Jake, see this," she said breathily, as he neared, cutting off whatever he was talking about.

"What is it?" He asked, and looked at her then, really looked at her. Suddenly he forgot they were in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night in the middle of being chased. 

She looked, there was no other word for it, ethereal, with her eyes wide and misty, neck extended to the sky, mouth slightly agape. The breeze made her hair blow around her face, but not too aggressively, so it looked like she was in a shampoo commercial. Her caramel skin glowed and the moonlight bounced off her wonderous expression. 

She looked at him, beckoned him over. Jake's legs seemed to move of their own accord as he went to stand next to her. 

"Look..." she said, tapping his shoulder and pointing to the sky. 

He looked. Then he looked some more.

"Holy shit, _Amy..._ "

"I know! " Her voice wobbled. 

Jake watched as a solitary tear ran down her cheek. He watched it tremble for a minute on the edge of her jaw, then disappear into the skin of her neck. 

He turned back to look at the stars. "I've never seen anything like this," he stated. 

"Yeah...you can't see this in the city with all the lights and smoke, and I don't think I've even looked at the night sky, for any reason, ever..." Her voice was still husky.

"It's so beautiful..." Jake said, his voice full of awe. Amy could tell he was going through the motions, just like her.

"It is." She swallowed thickly as a sob rose in her throat. _Why was this making her so emotional?_

Shuddering, she laid her head on Jake's shoulder, lightly. _What made her do that!?_

Jake stiffened, but Amy didn't pull back. She felt cozy and secure. Slowly, hesitantly, Jake put a tentative arm around her shoulders before tightening his grip and rubbing her arm, up and down, the rhythm of his touch almost putting her to sleep.

Together, they stared at the blazing stars stretched out before them, forgetting in the moment, that they were being chased after by murderous maniacs.

In that moment, they were just two lonely people, not feeling lonely after a long while. They huddled together, knowing the spell would soon be broken, and wanting to enjoy it while it lasted.


	16. AND THEY FOLLOWED THE GENERAL DIRECTION JAKE HAD POINTED OUT, WALKIKG SLOWER THIS TIME

AND THEY FOLLOWED THE GENERAL DIRECTION JAKE HAD POINTED OUT, WALKIKG SLOWER THIS TIME

The sky was getting lighter and the first birds of the morning had began to sing when Jake and Amy stumbled out of the woods and onto a road. 

"Aah! Concrete roads! Electric poles! Civilization!! Look, Amy, a _truck!!"_

Despite herself, she smiled at him. She was more than relieved to be out of that maze. It had caused her anxiety to keep building up and she thanked God they were out before it had begun to overflow. The last thing she needed was a panic attack in the middle of nowhere, with an overgrown kindergartner for company.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of said overgrown kindergartner's very un-kindergarten-like swearing.

"What now?" she groaned. _Hadn't they had enough trouble already?_

"Your phone's dead too!!"

"Aah, hell." Amy replied, calmer than she felt.

"What now!?" For all the time Jake forgot to charge his phone, he was clearly very much dependent on it.

"Well, we hitchhike!" Amy suggested.

"Hitchhike!? In 2012!? The only people agreeing to giving us rides will be serial killers or sexual offenders or class A creeps or - "

Ignoring Jake's indignant sputtering, Amy flung her hand out, hoping they were lucky enough to find a small family in a minivan who had space in their car plus some hand sanitizer and/or wet wipes. 

"Well, we're being chased by murderers anyway, so it's either hell or high water." She completely messed up that proverb, but she was too burnt out to care and she was sure Jake wouldn't notice and/or care. 

"Don't you mean 'from the frying pan into the fire?' "He said carefully. 

"No, but that works too. Good job, Peralta." 

She laughed as he did a ridiculous little bow and flourish on the side of the road.

Amy was still laughing at Jake's antics when a shadow fell upon them. They turned to find a 18 wheeler slowing down in front of them.

"You kids need a ride to the city?" A loud but wobbly female voice called out. Amy shielded her eyes with her hand as she squinted into the truck.

A tiny, wrinkled and kindly face looked back at them. Jake and Amy looked at each other. 

"Come on, hurry up!! Mom, I hate when you have to be so nice!" A louder female voice called out from the driver's seat. 

"Yeah, we've been stranded in the woods, separated from our group," Jake said. He was putting on a fake southern accent. Amy rolled her eyes. 

"Oh, are you not from around here? That makes sense! Oh, can you not speak English, dear?" the old lady addressed Amy tenderly.  
"Are you from -"

_ALRIGHT ENOUGH_

"Yes, thank you ma'am, were actually NYPD officers", she took out her badge from her pocket. "and we're stuck, and would really appreciate a ride back to the city."

Jake looked indignant, upset at losing his chance to play make-believe. She ignored him and climbed up into the truck.

"It's going to be a bit of a cramp dear, but I'm sure you and your boyfriend won't mind!" The old lady trilled. 

"What!?!? Oh,no!" Amy seemd to choke on her own saliva.

Jake's face which had lit up at another chance of assuming a fake identity, fell again. 

" No, ha ha, were just colleagues actually, had some work..." Amy finished.

"In the friggin' forest in the middle of nowhere? Alright," the driver snorted.

The next half hour went by pretty uneventfully. Maribel ( the old lady) and Max( her daughter, their driver) were polar opposites, but welcoming enough, and Maribel and Jake spent the time discussing old timey songs which Amy had never heard. She focused her attention on the road. Every blue car that passed them made her heart skip a beat.

Finally, Maribel noticed.  
"Are you alright dear? Do you have car sickness? Oh my son, Pete has it so bad- "

"Oh no, I- " she began, unable to take her eyes off the road "- like looking out of windows," she finished lamely. 

"Like a dog." Max stated. Jake sniggered.

Amy opened her mouth to reply, but a blue car caught her eye and she gasped instead, so very sure that they were going to be caught, and take two innocent civilians with them.

"Alright." Jake said loudly, noticing her distress. "Actually, Amy here is really scared of vehicles since her own involvement in a terrible one in her childhood"- _Jake and his stories!_ \- Amy rubbed her forehead, but she let him have this. "And cars just make her antsy. It's part of the problem why we were stranded in the forest. "

"Not because you ran off to make out?? "Max chuckled.

"Could we, maybe, ride in the back?" Amy asked quietly.

"Wha- in the trailer!?" Max asked incredulously. 

"Yeah? Didn't you want to make a gas stop? We can move then-" 

Max threw a bewildered expression at her mother, who was probably keeping quiet because she thought Amy was crazy. 

Jake, who seemed ready to laugh, saw her expression and backtracked quickly- "Yeah, yeah, if that'll make you feel better, we can go in the back- "

Max gave them a funny look. "Hmm, y'all arent horny or something are you?" 

"No!"

"NO!"

"Max!!"

"Okay, okay, had to ask. It's a bit suspicious, is all." She blasted the horn loudly to punctuate her statement. 

"What's suspicious!?" Amy asked, confusion etched on her face.

"What she means, dear, " Maribel hurriedly interrupted, "is you both would make a great couple!"

"Oh nawww..."

"Not really..."

At the next gas stop, Jake and Amy entered the semitrailer as surreptitiously as they could, which was not easy and definitely not as inconspicuous as they thought, but it did serve to put Amy's mind at ease. Once they started rumbling on the highway again, she heaved a sigh of relief. 

"We'll reach Brooklyn in an hour-ish," Jake said, taking a seat on the box next to her. "We never asked what they were carrying, what if it's something like- "

"Jake, please let's finish this case first before looking for more criminals "Amy begged, half laughing. 

"Aww, Santiago, you're no fun."

She didn't reply.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, gesturing around them.

"Urgh, yes! I kept thinking we were going to be shot at from the sides!I'm so relieved, I'm not even feeling claustrophobic."

"Yeah I saw you, all jumpy like a rat. "

"I was getting really nervous".  
Amy rubbed her palms on her pants. She hated when her anxiety acted up like this. It interfered with her professionalism ideals."If she hadn't agreed when she did, I was ready to tell them that we really wanted to find a place to-" She trailed off, unsure.

"To?" Jake prodded her.

"You know, have sex...." She admitted weakly.

Jake's eyes widened in shock before he let out a strangled laugh."WHAT!?" 

"They weren't letting us go!" Amy protested over the sounds of Jake's howls of laughter. "Come on, be serious," she swatted him on the shoulder. 

"Damn, I would've loved to see that," he said, wiping tears from his eyes. 

"It wasn't that funny!!"

"Oh, it would have been!"  
He descended into another laughing fit. 

Amy made a face at him."Well I'm glad we didn't have to play a fake couple. The last time we did that, you nearly blew the whole case! "

That got him to stop laughing.

"What- you mean that money laundering op they were running out of a cafe? "

"Yes- don't you remember ruining the case with- "

"Hey! All I remember is you being all stuck up and prissy as usual and stopping me from actually solving the case!" He retorted indignantly. 

Amy groaned."Jake, we've been over this! You wanted to _raid_ the place without enough proof!" 

"And I've told you - my CI told me they would be wrapping the entire operation up _that night!_ We did not have time!!" He crossed his arms and looks at her angrily.

Amy returned the look with equal gusto. "They fled in the evening, before we would have gotten there, anyway! "

"But they all got away! We were so close!!" He replied heatedly.

"But we did get that one guy, and he gave us so many names..."

Jake balled his fists. "We had to work to find each one _individually_ , found only two, and the case was given to Major Crimes who declared it a cold case before they even finished reading the file- It's one of my career's greatest tragedies! "

"If we had raided, they would have _completely_ disappeared underground. We would have had _no one._ "

"They wrapped up their operation anyway, but they were still inside the cafe,weren't they?! "

"And what grounds would we have arrested them on then? Cheating at cards? Not showering enough? Putting too much cream in their coffees?"

"We would have found something if we just got the chance to _search_ , and you know that Santiago "

"But I don't! I _don't_ know! That's the whole point! "

"Well, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith! I still think I was right, and I would have done it, if Lieutenant Cressey hadn't _somehow_ stuck his big head into our business. "

"He was not wrong, Jake. "

"I mean, I don't get it, I kept wondering, why was he even interested in-"

Jake's eyes widened and he got that comical look on his face when he had while having a revelation. While Amy was happy enough to see this look coming over him when they were solving a case, right now it made her exceedingly uncomfortable. 

Jake put his face in his hands. "Oh.  
_OH._ "  
He turned to Amy and said quietly-  
"It was you."

"It was me, what?" Shit. Her voice gave her away. 

Jake gaped. "Santiago? Did you call Cressey and _tell on me_? Did you _complain_?"

"Jake,I-"

_Oh my God. Oh my God._

"Jake..."

"You were my secondary. Santiago, you know that was my biggest case last year. And you took it from me!" His voice had reached dangerous highs.

"Jake! I stopped you from blowing it, okay!? It was a big case, _everyone_ had eyes on it! If you'd messed up, it would have been worse- "

"Oh, thank you for assuming I would mess up-"

"Assuming!? Jake, you were being hasty and you know it!!"

"It was all there!! When we went next morning, they found plenty of stuff to incriminate them all! But we had already let them go- Oh except for that one guy, wasn't that such a relief?" He added, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"They found him armed and dangerous! Imagine if there were 20 of those guys! And you planned to go there with what, 6 other cops?" 

"There were 11 of us and you know it, Santiago! I told you then, and I'm telling you now- if you don't like it, shut up and stay away. Don't interfere-"

" _Interfere!?_ Jake, I was trying to help you!!"

They were both shouting now. 

Jake slammed his fist on the side of the trailer. "Bloody load of help you gave me!! You went behind my back to complain! What are you, five? Grow up!!"

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when _Jacob Peralta_ has the audacity of telling someone to grow up- "

"At least I don't play dirty with my friends, Santiago! I'm not a bloody traitor!"

"Oh, so _now_ I'm your friend!? Rich, Jake."

"I always thought you were my friend! But now I can't even trust you as a partner or as a colleague! I cant believe this!!"

"Jake," she said in a restrained voice. "I didn't go to the lieutenant for me."  
He scoffed. She continued undeterred. "I did it for you. Because I thought it was a bad idea, and though you are a smart detective, you can be stubborn as hell ( _"Look who's talking"_ Jake mumbled. ) and you would have messed up the case and possibly your career. And you didnt listen to me, so I had to do something! "

"So you went crying to the higher ups, like the suck up you are. What, did you think they'd make you the primary instead?! "

"No! Urgh, Jake, you're being really dumb right now! I'm not going to apologize for what I did, because I don't think I was wrong! And it turned out I was right in the end!"

"We'll NEVER find out if I was right, because you didn't give me the fucking chance! No, you were just scared of getting in trouble! Let the criminals go free, but _Amy better not be reprimanded by her boss-_ "

"It's _NOT_ about that, okay!? You need to let that go!!"

Jake gave her a hard stare. "You've made a reputation for yourself, Amy. Not my fault. "

Amy's eyes flashed and she felt the tears coming. "Well, at least I dont have the reputation of being a stubborn jerk who thinks he can save the world because _he's watched a cop movie_ one too many times!"

"Hey- dont bring Die Hard into this!"

But Amy was on a roll. Days, weeks, months of being treated as a joke had finally gotten to her. Also the lack of proper food and sleep for the past 48 hours must have factored in.

"- A narcissistic asshole who never listens to anybody, doesn't care about getting in trouble, undermines authority and behaves like a prepubescent boy who owns the NYPD and expects the world to bend at his feet!  
I tell you, Peralta, one day you're going to get in so deep, you wont be able to crawl out. And because you cant trust anybody, _no one_ is going to be there to help you. "

"So says the friendless lady". He said loudly.

"Atleast I dont alienate the friends I have by being a dick!" she yelled back.

"Whatever, Santiago. I don't care. I dont think I can ever trust you again."

"You don't trust _anybody_ but yourself, Jake. Thats your problem."

"And you do? You don't think you're better than everyone else? Because half your family is in the NYPD, you're a snob? Your _handwriting_ is better so that makes you a better detective? Your binders give you divine knowledge? Well think again, smartass- you know what, forget it. You call me stubborn, but you're just as stubborn as I am. I don't want to talk to you. You're gross."

"Oh, _grow up,_ Jake. I can't wait for this case to be over!"

They sat in silence for the next hour. 

She was still wearing his jacket.


	17. AND AMY COULDN'T DECIDE IF SHE WANTED TO CRY OR SCREAM OR PUNCH SOMETHING- OR SOMEONE, FIRST

AND AMY COULDN'T DECIDE IF SHE WANTED TO CRY OR SCREAM OR PUNCH SOMETHING- OR SOMEONE, FIRST 

Max dropped them off on the outskirts of the city.

They got down in a pretty isolated place, surrounded by mostly abandoned or repurposed warehouses. It was still early in the day, and few people were about.

They stepped off the truck, still ignoring each other and making it a point to _make it evident_ that they were ignoring that other. It was the most un-cold cold war in the history of cold wars. 

They stood on the sidewalk for a while, arms crossed,gazing away from each other, silently daring the other to break the silence first. 

But Jake and Amy weren't the precinct's best detectives for nothing. Their competitiveness and adamancy gave them an edge over the rest, and this situation was bringing out the best (read: worst) of their stubbornness.

Maybe, if one of them had the guts to swallow their ego -

Maybe, if one of them had thought about the case and evidence over their anger for each other -

Maybe if one of them had the sense to realise that the most important thing right now, was to get to the precinct -

But the calm from wandering through the forest had lulled them into a false sense of security, plus the fight had left both of them (though they'd never admit it) feeling overwhelmed and distraught.

They argued all the time, but it had never turned this spiteful, this mean. The blows had never been this low. And the tide of sadness, anger and outrage was being a bit of a distraction. 

So, maybe, they couldn't be blamed, when a shot rang out of seemingly nowhere, startling them out of their fury-fueled daze. 

"Did it hit you!?" Jake gasped, looking her up and down.  
Amy shook her head, too shell-shocked to speak. 

They turned around in the spot, trying to locate the shooter- 

Pixie was making her way towards them, gun in hand. _Where did she come from?!_

They turned around, looking for an escape route. Two more guys with guns were walking towards them: they were trapped.

"Amy- Amy, your gun!" Jake hissed to her. She was still in shock. With trembling hands, she took it out of the holster and for the second time in less than twelve hours, pointed it at Pixie. 

Jake saw her quivering hands and reached out, apparently to take the gun from her hands. Amy saw it coming and jerked away. 

"I'm only trying to help!" He protested." Look at you, you're shaking! "

"Sorry, Peralta, I forgot that you don't trust me," she said. Her words were sharp, but her voice was weak. " You'll understand why I can't trust you either. "

Pixie was within earshot now. She was on the phone."Hello, doctor? Yeah, got them. They're near the factory, surprisingly. Right into the lion's den, right!?" She barked a laugh, eyes flashing with vindication, and turned her attention to Jake and Amy.

"Put that gun down, detective, you'd probably end up misfiring if you're so scared. Why are you nervous? First time?" The two goons behind them laughed sickeningly. 

Amy felt something in her break. She was underestimated, yet again, by a criminal, no less. Jake noticed the way her expression hardened and threw her a worried look. 

"Hey. I wasn't kidding. Hands up. Both of you . And kneel. NOW!! "

Jake and Amy exchanged an anxious look as they hastened to comply. 

"We saw you taking pictures. Give us the camera, and I won't shoot you on the spot and then search your dead bodies for it. I would like you to know I adhere to no such crap like 'respecting the dead'. I'll leave your festering bodies here for the rats to fiesta. " She laughed, an ugly laugh, to punctuate her sentence.

It was Jake's turn to look completely terrified. It was a marker of how scared he was that he hadn't opened his mouth to make a smart-ass comment. This freaked Amy out all the more. 

Despite the ugly words they'd screamed at each other in the truck, in the two years they'd worked together, they had developed a grudging respect for one another.

Jake wished he could be as sincere and strong as she was, and also maybe organise his desk, cases and life like Amy did, and Amy wished she had Jake's social skills, that her mind could think out of the box like Jake. She was even jealous of his Devil-may-care attitude sometimes! 

They had worked together to solve some of the toughest cases, their complementary qualities making case-solving a breeze.

The thing was, their ego was still too big to admit this to each other. Jake's sad childhood meant he grew up building a wall around himself that pushed away anyone that got too close. And anytime he felt a twinge of respect for Amy, he would force his competitiveness to push that shizz _down_. And Amy, who'd had one too many privileged white men make fun of her, and use her, and forget her, was never one to back down from a battle, would never think of giving up, would be the last person to quit- she just couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much she valued him as a partner.

So that's how they went about their lives, jabbing insults and solving cases, never letting the other get too close.

They thrived in this weird middle ground - or so it seemed. (Many years later, it became pretty apparent that the place they most thrived would be each other's arms. But right now, they lapped up the competition and drama and pretended that this was just how they liked it.) 

But back to our poor scared duo kneeling on the concrete with guns pointed at their heads. 

A car screeched to a halt behind them.  
Doors opened.  
A hurried whispered conversation.  
A familiar voice- _Dr.Reiter._

"Are you bloody idiots!? Pulling out weapons in the fucking streets?! Get them inside!"

"Well we figured they were going to die anyway, so..."

"So you decided you want to go to jail!? Its broad daylight! You can do whatever the hell you want, but you're not compromising me or my operations. _Idiots_. Get them inside the car. To the factory.  
MOVE. "

The woman nudged Amy with the butt of her gun and pushed her towards the car. One muscled man grabbed Jake by the collar and dragged him forward too.

The car doors had barely slammed shut as the Merc pulled away. 

Now, Amy was no stranger to stressful situations. She wasn't even a stranger to life threatening situations. She'd been cornered by criminals before. She'd had a gun to her head before. 

And yet never had she been so unsure of the outcome. Never had she had to wonder if she'd get to see her parents again. It was always a when, never an if . As in _Okay, this drug-addled man is chasing me with a knife right now, but when I get home, I'm gonna take an extra long shower!_  
It was never _"IF I get home safely I'll call to tell my parents I love them."_

She looked at Jake and his pale face staring resolutely ahead told her he was thinking along similar lines. 

She felt a sudden urge to grab his hand, for him to hold her and tell her that they would solve this case and they would be out of this mess. That they were going to be be okay. She felt an apology at the tip of her tongue.

But then, she didn't. Because. You know. Ego. Pride. The works.

Instead, she leaned back and crossed her arms around her chest and waited for the nightmare to be over. 

Far too quickly, they stopped. They were pushed out of the car and into what looked like an deserted warehouse.

They walked in with their heads held high, arms swinging casually like there weren't any guns threatening to blow their heads off.

These two weren't going to be pleading and begging for their lives, oh no. They would go down as obstinately as they lived, pride unshattered till the end. It wasn't their fault. They felt they had nothing to lose. Aah, the overconfidence that being young and untethered brought! 

"Walk quickly!" the woman spat, pressing the gun into Amy's back. She didn't react. She was intently observing their surroundings, brain whirring, trying to find a way out, looking for an escape- 

It was like going through a door and entering Narnia.

The outside was quintessential old city typey with smog and chimneys and machines.  
The inside was clearly built bu a person with too much money and far less taste.

It was all white, so pristine, even Amy felt _wrong_. The lights were too bright and the air conditioning too low. Amy shivered. They walked down a long hallway and into a room. The room was also white and had two benches and two doors.Also white. If they weren't creeped out then, this nearly made them lose it. 

"Sit down, sweethearts. Dont worry about getting anything too messy, I'm sure you have other things to worry about now. Like how many people will come to your funeral!" Her voice was sweet like poisoned honey. Amy wanted to break her teeth. "The doctor will be with you shortly." 

She had hardly finished saying that when Dr. Reiter entered the room, followed by an entourage of people in scrubs and people in suits . He stared at the two on the bench with his beady, impassive eyes. 

"I told the DC that I wanted no trouble. He failed, and you'll pay the price. Of course you did go nosing around where not needed and directly undermined authority, but that must be the only joy in your small, small lives."

Next to Amy, Jake finally found his tongue. 

"Dr. Reiter, you're old and you're going to jail, you are in no position to be calling anyone else's life 'small' " Jake chortled, his voice pretty steady for someone who has been threatened with almsot certain death. 

"Cut the crap, I dont have time for this."Reiter stated, expressionless as ever. "Did you get the camera?" he asked Pixie.

She shook her head.

He looked at Jake. "Give me the camera. "

"There was no camera!" 

"We reviewed CCTV footage of you last night. There was a camera."

"Damn, if only you had this security at your hospital! But then how would you commit your crimes, right? Well, old man, how does it feel to be outdone by your 10-year old nephew? Whose father you killed? "

"He killed himself. That boy and his mother are sickeningly dumb. How such people are allowed to reproduce...."He shrugged. Behind him, his entourage tittered. 

"You killed him -" Jake continued loudly. "-and that's why you're helping her now. Because you feel guilty."

"No." He said simply. But at that moment, Amy got the feeling his 'no,' was not a 'no' as in _'no I didn't do it, so I'm not guilty'_ , but 'no' as in ' _I did it, but I don't feel guilty about it at all'._

_Well, that was a bother._

"No...he didnt do it out of guilt. He did it to keep her quiet. "Amy said. "She knew something...her husband must have told her something, right? And he wanted to keep a close eye on her, so he told her" I'll give you the best treatment and you can keep your son and you can't see anyone " - she broke off, thinking hard." Is she even really sick!? Do you drug her everyday? Is this a munchausen thing!? "

"Wow detective, I'm surprised you know that word. Well, do you want me to tell you? Last piece of knowledge you gain before you die? "

"If you wanted us to die you'd have killed us already." Amy said.

It was a big proclamation, very brave, very stupid. Even Jake raised his eyebrow at her. 

Silence. The entourage held their collective breath. 

"She's right. She's right. Okay, fine. Kill them, get the camera or phone or whatever. Don't do it here, it's the waiting room, " he hissed at the trigger happy woman who'd immediately picked up her gun. 

"They might have sent the evidence in already," said one guy in scrubs timidly. 

Reiter gave him a look, then turned to Pixie. "Kill this one too." The scrubbed man squeaked and ran out of the room. No one stopped him. A muscled man sighed and followed him out. Not for the first time in the last 24 hours, Amy wondered if she'd accidentally gotten high in the evidence room again. (It was one time, and it was a bloody mistake! No one knew breathing the vapors would make a person _that_ stoned!)

"Yup, we've sent it in. In fact the NYPD knows our location. They're on their way. We were waiting for them when you found us, hopefully they followed, and are making plans of raiding the place-" Jake fibbed without a trace of hesitation. 

Luck was on their side. Or maybe it was Reiter's unlucky day. It was too good not to be a coincidence, maybe just short of a miracle.

No sooner had Jake said the words 'raiding the place' , that a commotion broke out somewhere outside the room. Everyone looked at each other in surprise, and except pixie and muscle man, everyone left the room. 

The noises got louder. Things falling, people shouting. 

"We got to go out- " Pixie hissed. She did not want to miss out on the action. 

"What to do with these people?" Muscle man asked.

She turned. 

Amy knew what she was going to say before she said it. She braced herself, waiting, waiting-

"Just shoot them!" She told muscle man.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Amy abandoned all semblance of sanity and charged. Pixie never saw it coming. The two women crashed to the floor and begin wrestling for the gun. 

"Hey!" Muscle man yelled and fired at Amy, but missed. Jake who had been staring in silent shock, came to his senses rapidly and kicked him in the nuts, a surefire way of taking down a man, muscular or not. He dropped his gun in surprise and grabbed Jake in a chokehold, so hard Jake began to see stars. 

Amy saw Jake's eyes roll up into his skull and with a burst of energy, grabbed the gun into her own hands and with a _bang bang_ , there were two bullets in the muscle man's thigh. He dropped Jake and fell on top of him, bellowing in pain.  
However Pixie now had her arms around Amy's neck, and the two men lying on the floor seemed to be beyond helping their female counterparts. 

"At least itll be a fair fight." thought Amy as she struggled to keep a grip on the gun and also try to pry pixies hand off her throat. She felt herself fading as her oxygen supply cut off. 

Suddenly there was a _thwack_ and an _Oof_ and pixie fell to the ground.

Jake had hit her with the butt of muscle man's gun. She tried to get up again, but Amy was quicker to recover and punched her in the throat, really hard, just like her brothers had taught her and on occasion, practised on her. 

She dropped like a sack of potatoes. 

"She'll wake up soon! " Amy whispered to Jake. "Let's go, let's go! " The door they came through had been locked from the outside so they tried the other one, through which everyone had left. The sounds grew louder as they ran through the corridor and came to a a pair of swinging doors. 

"Hopefully they lead to the outside? "Jake said.

"With our luck," Amy deadpanned, "probably not". 

They didnt have time to think. They could hear footsteps - they pushed through the doors, and- 

They entered a large room, with one wall made completely of glass . Walking towards the glass Amy realized it was a viewing balcony, with a door and small staircase leading them below, and below them:

Below them were all the answers they needed to know.


	18. AND AMY JUST STARED, FEELING PARALYSED, SHOCKED BY WHAT SHE SAW

AND AMY JUST STARED, FEELING PARALYSED, SHOCKED BY WHAT SHE SAW

Jake locked the doors behind him, hoping Pixie wouldn't be able to break them down. He turned and tossed a gun to Amy. He'd had the presence of mind to grab them off Pixie and Muscle man's unconscious bodies before he and Amy fled.   
Amy nodded her thanks, then turned to the glass window to watch the scene unfolding in front of her.

A middle-aged man, clothes askew and face red with rage, was yelling at the doctors, brandishing a- _was that a bomb!?_

Two females stood beside him, holding guns, pointing them at Reiter and his entourage. 

The room they were in was a operation theater, Amy deduced, but it was big, too big. On one bed, lay a man, unconscious and connected to various monitors and tubes. The other bed was empty. 

Jake made his way around the room, looking for something- 

"Found it!" He whispered triumphantly and flicked a switch.   
Suddenly Amy could hear what was going on downstairs.

"....I've caught you, caught you red handed, Reiter! I'm going to go to the police, the press- you, all of you, will go to jail and rot in there. Forever!!! "

He began laughing like a maniac. Three men stepped closer to him and he yelped, the two females on his side tightened their grips on their respective guns. 

"Don't even try - I'll bomb this place!!!! You'll all die!!" 

"Does no one have any guns?" Dr. Reiter muttered exasperatedly to his entourage, but he didn't seem too concerned. _Damn, did the man ever get flustered ?!_

The entourage shook their heads. They were looking very, very uncomfortable...it was clear they just wanted to leave the room. They kept throwing uneasy glances at Dr.Reiter, as though waiting for his permission to leave.

Jake and Amy threw confused looks at each other. _What was this about?_ They were pulled out of their thoughts by a loud bang behind them. 

It looked like Pixie had reached the door and was jumping against it, trying to break it down. 

"What the hell!!" Jake whispered. Both of them cocked their (Pixie and Muscle man's) guns.

"Shit, I'm out!" Amy whispered agitatedly, realizing her gun was out of ammo.

"Here, take this," Jake threw his own gun at her, and looked around for a weapon for himself. 

"What!?" Amy said. "Why!? "

"You're a better shot than me, Amy, you say that all the time. " 

Amy was shocked at his admission- something that would have definitely never happened under normal circumstances. 

Just went to show how much of a sticky situation they were in- if even Jake Peralta was getting serious. 

The bangs on the door got louder, the hinges creaking dangerously. It seemed like Pixie had found backup. It was only a matter of time. 

Downstairs, the argument was still on, the entourage trying to placate the bomb- wielding person, Dr. Reiter standing, looking bored.

_Bang_ went the door.  
 _Bomb_ screamed the madman.   
_"Ohno ohno ohno!!"_ Amy muttered. 

Her heart was beating so loud, she could hear it in her ears. They were screwed. 

Jake took one look at her and immediately took command. "Amy, I'm going to open the door, you're going to have to incapacitate whoever's on the other side -"

_Incapacitate? Where did he learn that word?_ The part of Amy's brain that was still working vaguely wondered. 

"We'll have to fight our way out, it's the only way..."Jake grabbed her shoulder and spoke loudly, as if to push the words into her frozen head. 

"Yeah, yeah I get it." she gasped out.

"Come on Santiago, you can't freeze out now," he whispered.

His words stung, but his voice was soft and encouraging. Amy chose to focus on the encouraging part for now. 

"Sorry," she said, trying to keep her voice from being bitter. 

"No- I didnt mean it like that- don't apologize! "Jake said, eyes widening. "Its okay if you get anxious- it used to happen to my mom, too. But you need to power through it at this moment, okay? You gotta try." 

Amy nodded, her mind too full of jumbled thoughts and conflicting emotions to form a meaningful sentence.

"On three," Jake whispered.   
"One   
Two  
Th- "

The glass window behind them shattered and pieces of glass and metal rained down on them. Before they could react, there was a second boom and more raining debris. The floor beneath them shook frighteningly.

They heard running footsteps and the handle of the door to their left , that led to the room below, jiggled dangerously. 

Amy craned her neck to look downstairs. "I think someone's blocking the exit below,and they're trying to escape this way! Amy gasped out to Jake. "They're going to see us!"

She saw the females next to the madman start shooting in the direction of the staircase, without warning. Screams, yells and loud expletives went flying about just like the bullets. 

They were legit caught in the middle of a crossfire, without any means of protection or fighting back. 

They were huddled under a desk in the room. Amy could feel Jake's legs trembling against her thigh. The two doorways that shielded them from the whole situation were a breath away from being broken down. The bangs got louder. 

Suddenly, Amy remembered it was Kylie's birthday. It came to her out of nowhere, while she was desperately looking for an escape plan. The only part of her brain that was working seemed to be stoned. 

Jake glanced at her. She looked as stricken as he felt, her eyes were glazed and mouth slightly ajar. _They'd trained for this,_ he tried to tell himself. _They knew what to do._

He didnt have time for a more in detail pep talk, because the downstairs door broke open and crazed people clambered in, pushing and shoving each other in a bid to get the hell out of there. They seemed to be too preoccupied to notice Jake and Amy at all. 

"Jake, let's go with them! Blend in!" Amy said hurriedly, grabbing his jacket to pull him up. 

They ran out, luckily didn't immediately run into pixie, who seemed to be lost in the crows. They ran in the opposite direction from the other people, who were too busy to be concerned about anything rather than their own selves, and Jake and Amy went ignored. 

They reached a stairwell and   
Jake began to take the stairs downstairs. Amy grabbed him again. "Let's go up!" 

"Amy, are you crazy? We have to get outside this place! "

"Everyone will be wanting to go downstairs- let's hide out for a while, wait till things calm-" 

"Amy, I dont know about you, but I don't want to stay in this house of terrors for a second longer!"

"Jake, I dont know about you but I dont want to freaking DIE!"

"What-" he scoffed. "Look at these idiots, they're too worried about their own necks right now, they won't spare us a second look!" 

"And what if Reiter sees us? "

"Well, we won't let him see us!" He grabbed her hand and squeezed.

"How, Peralta?!" Amy cried. 

"We avoid him and we go really fast! Don't look left or right; just straight ahead and out of this psychotic place! "

"So you want to rush headfirst into this situation, _absolutely blindly,_ with no weapons- "

"Head first, eyes closed, can't lose, Santiago!"

_"What?!_ NOBODY SAYS THAT!" 

"Well, I do!" He tugged at her hand again.

They heard another blast and Amy realized there was no point arguing with a man with _'Head first, eyes closed, can't lose'_ , as a life motto. She did want to get out of there though, and gritting her teeth, she ran down the stairs, Jake hot on her heels. At the next landing, Amy saw a sign pointing downwards, marked 'basement'.

"No basements," she whispered to Jake.

"No, out into the open air, please." he agreed.

They pushed open the doors that led to a long, white hallway, and began to run.

"Straight out, straight out!" Jake muttered behind her. 

"Why is this so long!?" Amy complained, gesturing at the large expanse of white tiles and fluorescent lights before them. The exit to the hall was still many yards away. 

"Hehe, why is this so long, title of your-" 

_BOOM!_

The wall they were passing exploded and a huge chuck of brick and cement came flying out, right into Jake, trapping him against the opposite wall. 

_"Shit! "_ Amy screeched. She'd only been hit by a few flying pieces. Had she been a few inches behind, she'd be trapped too. 

Jake's face was visible over the edge, but his entire body was currently being crushed. He made this clear by letting out a high pitched string of expletives. 

"Jake," Amy panted, trying hard to push the chunk off him. "Please, please try to push-" 

"My arms are pinned down; are you blind!? "

"Just- just wriggle or something! Jake, you're really stuck, come on, try!! "

He screwed up his face, but whether from pain or from effort Amy would never know, because there was another blast, and from the hole in the wall, came out flying more pieces and then-

_"Shit! "_ Amy repeated. "Fire!!!" 

From the hole in the wall, she could see the room was completely burning, and Amy could tell it was a matter of time before the fire reached the hallway. 

She redoubled her efforts, face red. There was sweat rolling down her face...or were those tears?

With a blast of heat and more flying stuff, a literal fireball came through the hole and the chunk on Jake caught fire. 

"What is this made of!? "Amy yelled in desperation. "Why is it burning so quickly!?" 

Just then they heard footsteps down the hall. 

_This was turning very bad, very quickly._

Jake mirrored Amy's horrified expression. "Well, this backfired kinda fast, no?" He said, his voice surprisingly steady. Amy ignored him, still trying to pry the wall off him. 

"Amy ... Amy "Jake gasped. The smoke was coming out in thick clouds.

"I'm trying, Jake!" Amy coughed out. 

"No,no listen to me- you need to leave! Go and find help". The last sentence was wheezed out. 

The smoke was beginning to burn Amy's eyes. 

"I'm not doing that, Peralta!"

"Amy, come on! Don't think about it too much, this case is huge! And we don't have a lot of time - I bet Reiter has a escape plan ready : we need to get him! Find help, I'll try to push this off..."

"How -dare - you," Amy gasped out. "Accuse me of being selfish and workaholic and all that crap, when you're being a moron and thinking about a _case_ while you're _literally dying?!"_

Her anger built up and with an almighty tug, she shifted the chunk by an inch, enough for Jake to get space to move his arms and leverage to wiggle out. He collapsed to the the ground, but suddenly Amy was there, pulling him up, dragging him forward. 

"I didn't call you selfish!" He said. 

"You implied it. In fact, you imply it everyday, " Amy called back to him. _They were reaching a bifurcation in the hallway, hopefully one of the doors led outside..._

"Are you still mad, Santiago?" He yelled, trying to be overheard over the blasts. 

"Do you still not trust me, Peralta?" She called back. 

_"Oh, come o-"_

He stopped midway again, Amy turned to find him sprawled halfway on the ground.

"Urgh, stop falling in the middle of sentences!" She exclaimed. 

"Damn, my ankle!" He groaned. 

_Come on, come on_

The fire was spreading faster, it was on their tails. Jake limped forward slowly. Groaning, Amy put an arm around his waist and helped him hobble along faster. When he put his arm around her shoulder, his nails dug into her skin. She ignored it.

They reach the bifurcation to find   
one of the doors led to the outside. Amy could see a road and some trash cans - and sunlight!!("Oh, a colour other than white!"Jake muttered.)

In true cinema style, the only thing that stood between them and the door, was a fire that was slowly spreading towards them. 

"Oh, come on!!" Amy whined. 

"Oh yes!!!" Jake cheered." I feel like an action movie star! "

Amy felt her anger rising again. How was he so cavalier about this?! "Oh yeah? How the hell are you getting out of here?"

"Oh, don't worry, my damsel in distress- "

Amy stamped down on his toes. "Don't you dare ever call me or anyone else that again or I will break your kneecaps!!" She threatened.

Jake was busy moaning in pain. "Santiago!? That was my one good foot! "

"So?" Amy said, ungraciously.

"The fire's not that big. I say we jump over it, " Jake said. 

"What a genius idea, Peralta, running through fire, I mean, why does no one-"

"Do you have a better idea!? We're almost out of here!"

Amy almost rolled her eyes. Almost. Except the smoke was really burning her eyes, and her lungs were on fire, and her heart was beating so fast she fully expected it to explode in the near future. She wanted to take a deep breath but then decided against it, because, smoke.

She looked at a ridiculously excited Jake. For all her exasperation, he was beginning to get to her. His wicked grin was contagious and she felt the knot in her chest start to loosen.

"Eyes closed, head first, can't lose, that's what you said?" She declared. _(Had the smoke entered her brain!?)_

Jake gasped. _"Amy?!Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"_

Amy didnt wait to hear the very predictable ending of the word.  
She ran towards the exit and took a running leap, _jumped_ over the burning floor, (which she dimly registered as many burning computer monitors and some furniture thrown out from a neighbouring room.)

She collapsed against the glass doors and was knocked off her feet immediately. 

She used the door handle to pull herself up. "I did it! I did it, Peralta, I did-"

A high pitched wail drowned out her victory celebration, as Jake tumbled to the ground in front of her. 

His jacket was on fire. 

She screamed. 

Turned out, high pressure situations brought out the best of their dumbassness.To any person watching this scene from afar, right now, Jake and Amy looked like professional, highly trained _morons._

Amy clutched the door handle as if it would protect her from fire, yelling: _'drop and roll! drop and roll!!'_ while Jake flailed about, trying to get his jacket off.

This clownery continued for two minutes before Amy's brain caught up to the present and she looked around for a fire extinguisher and thanking the lords, found one, right next to the door. 

It wasn't 'found' so much as 'finally saw and realised _"hey! This can be used in case of fire!" '_

She sprayed him and he fell to the ground with a final whelp, voice hoarse from the screeching. _(No, It was cause of the smoke, Santiago!)_

"Ow ow ow!" he whined, still struggling to get his jacket off. He peeled off his many layers and looked down at his torso. There was a very angry red patch of skin on his left side. 

"Looks like a stage 1 burn, you'll be alright." Amy said, in a level voice. Or so she thought. 

"Yeah? When I go to the hospital for this, you should come along too, get your eyes checked, I bet you have stage 1 blindness if you COULDN'T see that HUGE RED EXTINGUISHER !!"

" _You_ didn't see it either!"

"Well I was busy BEING ON FIRE!" he roared back. 

Amy suddenly pursed her lips as she felt a giggle trying to escape. She clamped her hand to her mouth, her eyes betraying her mirth. Post traumatic hysteria, her brain unhelpfully supplied.

Jake just shook his head at her and limped out the doors, into the glorious blue skies (smog) of New York City.


	19. AND IMMEDIATELY COUGHED AS SAID SMOG ENTERED HER  ALREADY SMOKE- IRRITATED LUNGS

AND IMMEDIATELY COUGHED AS SAID SMOG ENTERED HER ALREADY SMOKE- IRRITATED LUNGS

Time rushed by afterwards.

There was a fire engine out front, called by passerby who'd heard the explosions and seen the smoke, and they wasted no time in calling the precinct.

They were taken to the hospital, despite their protests. Terry said he would meet them there.

"Terry's gonna kill us, isn't he?" Amy asked, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

She was sitting on Jake's hospital bed, legs folded, playing nervously with the sheets. Across her, Jake was admiring his wound. He wasn't looking so pleased an hour ago, when they were cleaning it and it _stung._ Amy had insisted on staying in the room with him- the faces he made while in pain were _hilarious._ Unsurprisingly, Jake didn't agree.

"Hey, we almost got killed! He's going to fall to his feet and apologise!" Jake said with a grin.

They weren't allowed to leave yet, having been placed under observation because of having inhaled so much smoke. Terry still hadn't reached, and they were bored of waiting, the sudden quiet a stark contrast from the events of the past night. 

Amy sighed and looked at her phone. They'd managed to wrangle a charger from one of the student nurses. It hadn't switched on yet. "I really hope the video you took is good enough." 

"Oh God, I hope so too. I mean, if I knew then, that Reiter was going to kill us, I would have jumped into the living room to take pictures!" 

"And get caught?!"

"No, no, the rest of Our Great Escape stays the same!" 

"Sure, Peralta." Amy laughed.

Turned out, Jake was closer to the truth. Terry was extremely emotional, very glad to see his detectives alive and... lying on hospital beds. 

"You're bloody idiots! But I love you, don't ever do that again!!" He essentially sobbed. 

"Wow- Terry, we're fine ,we're okay, these things happen..." Amy began, confused by Terry's outburst. 

"I know, I know, but I'd prefer if they didn't happen to people I love...Sharon's pregnant!" He blurted out, then clasped his hand over his mouth. Given the amount of muscle on his arm, this simple action made a lot of noise. 

Jake and Amy looked at each other in surprise. Whatever their differences, they could agree that no one deserved such happiness more than Terry. 

"Wow, Terry- that's great!"  
" _Awesome, dude!!"_

Terry shushed them with a pleased smile and tears in his eyes. 

"I know, I know, congratulations, you're gonna be a dad, don't go out in the field lest you die without your children ever seeing you-"

"What? We weren't gonna say that!" Jake and Amy exchanged stricken looks.

But Terry waved them off. 

"I'm gonna make some phone calls, looks like they got Reiter!"

And Jake and Amy were alone again.

"So... it's absolutely ridiculous we went through all that craziness and we _still_ don't know what Reiter was up to!!" Amy stated, huffing out a tiny laugh.

"Come on, it's obvious, crazy doctor with boatloads of cash - he was clearly creating Zombies a là Dr. Jekyll!"

"What!?" Amy gave him a disdainful look but that only served to spur him on.

"Okay, maybe he was harvesting brains! "

"Not even gonna ask-" 

Jake tsked. "He was taking brains from one person and/or animal and attaching it in another person and/or animal!" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Per- "

"Or or or- "

"Jake," Amy laughed. "We weren't in a action movie then, and we aren't in a sci-fi movie now. I bet the answer is simple, like drugs or something."

"Well, I mean, it's always drugs."

"Drugs are always there," Amy agreed. Working as a cop in New York City had driven _this_ fact home. 

"But I have a better theory- he's selling kidneys." Jake declared. 

Amy tried to think of a witty reply, but she realised that this was actually a plausible theory. 

"It does make sense," she admitted reluctantly." It fits in, how he had so much money and all." 

"I know, right? I'm a genius."

Amy - you guessed it- rolled her eyes.

Her phone rang from the corner of the room and they turned simultaneously to look at it.

"Is it charged?" Jake said excitedly. "Send Terry the video!!! "

"Yes, yes," Amy leaped off the bed, hoping, praying that the video Jake had recorded was good evidence. 

She rejected the incoming call and pulled up the video. 

The phone rang again.

"Oh, hey, Jake, I got to take this call- " and not looking at his face, she stepped out of the room.

"Okay..."Jake said. He was distracted by his own phone, also charged and ready for him to play Angry Birds.

Amy didn't return for 40 minutes. 

Jake made a disgruntled expression when she finally walked back in."I thought you left to personally hand over your phone on a silver platter to the Chief." 

Amy had entered with a sour expression on her face but hearing his words made her perk up. "Aww Peralta, I wouldn't do that without you being there, watching me bask in my glory! " She replied, without missing a beat. "It was my mom, she was worried, we usually talk every other day, so..."

"Oh." Said Jake. He looked sadly at his own phone. Amy suddenly felt the need to diffuse the tension. 

"Uh, um, I told her you got burnt, and she asked how, and I said it was from me roasting you," she tried, words spilling out of her mouth awkwardly.

Jake looked up incredulously. "Ew, Amy."

_Well, at least it had the desired effect._

"Yeah, it sounded better in my head," she said, laughing and cringing at the same time.

"I'm glad we're alive," Jake said suddenly. His tone was light, but his expression betrayed his emotions. 

"I'd say." Amy replied, laughing humorlessly. 

"Didn't we have an argument to continue? "

"Maybe tomorrow, I'm tired, I almost _died,_ Jake! "

"Santiago shying away from a debate? You're getting old! "

"Hey! First of all, don't call it a _debate_ if you have no idea what the rules of debating are, which I'm very sure you don't - (Jake had the audacity to look affronted by this, when in fact he had just come to know that debates had rules. _Like, why?_ ) And second, you know what, let's just forget what happened. We were overworked, disagreements happen..."

"Really??" Jake lifted his head to look at her, almost shyly. 

"Yeah. Almost dying puts things into perspective, if you ask me. "

"Mmhmm?" He smiled, a little half-smile and Amy suddenly had a lot to say, the sourness leaving her face completely.

"An annoying, slobby partner is the least of my problems. Actually not the _least_ , because you can be VERY irritating. But you're not at the top."

"What's at the top of your problems? The rising prices of stapler pins?" 

Jake was saved from having to listen to a rant on the expensiveness of stationary by a dishevelled Terry rushing in. 

"Guys-! They've got Reiter! And he's not talking, but one of his lackeys is singing like a bird! He's agreed to talk in exchange for witness protection- Damn,is this Reiter that scary?"

"Witness protection? Cool!" Jake said, eyes shining.

Terry gave him a look, then plowed on. "Come on, let's get to the precinct, hear his confession- you have that video, right? I had to _get out my pecs_ for the doctors to agree to let you go- "

"Awww, Terry, you pimped yourself out for us? What will your kid say?" Jake sniggered as he painstakingly got out of the bed, trying his hardest not to wince at the twinge of pain that shot through his entire lower body. Amy laughed and held out a hand to steady him while he put on his shoes.

Terry raised his eyebrows as his best and simultaneously worst detectives exited the room.

_'Time to schedule a therapy session'_ he thought. Thank God, therapy was departmentally mandated and covered by insurance. He was going to need a lot of hours to talk about Jake and Amy and the night they decided to defy the Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD.

(Who was later found to be corrupt and was quietly sacked.)


	20. AND THIS IS HOW THIS IS AN ENEMIES TO FRIENDS STORY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now for some Jake and Amy time.

AND THIS IS HOW THIS IS AN ENEMIES TO FRIENDS STORY

OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT   
7PM

_It was an organ transplant ring. Reiter took money from the wealthy and the affluent, bumping them up transplant lists so they didnt have to wait for their alcohol-ravaged livers to be replaced, unlike normal citizens. He himself conducted the surgeries in his psycho- warehouse. Patients could walk in with a buttload of cash and a failing organ and go home with a new one, pockets considerably lighter. By like a few million. Waiting lists could go on for years, but not for those who could afford to pay Reiter. He was a borderline psychopath, and never hesitated to kill people who came in the way of him and his quick money making scheme. He hadn't confessed yet, but many of his henchmen had, and the steady case building up against him was strong. They still didn't know why he had killed Hale, just that he'd paid one of his lackeys to do it. It was the drink in the restaurant- Dr. Hale choosing a different non -alcoholic one because he was on duty. The bomb-wielding man - a Mr. Jackson - had been arrested, but a psych eval had shown him to be in terrible distress : his wife had been waiting two years for a new heart, but when the chance finally arose, Reiter had swooped in and stolen the heart for a yesteryear supermodel who made money by trash-talking younger models in the news. Weird, but the money was good. Enough for Reiter. Mrs. Jackson had passed away, leaving behind three teenage daughters and an inconsolable husband._

Seven hours and much excitement later, Jake and Amy stood outside the precinct, leaning on Amy's car. Terry had kept asking, and then ordering them to go home and to sleep it off, and in the end had threatened to bodily lift them and throw them out. Since they knew Terry was very capable of that, they stumbled out of the precinct.

It was getting dark and the evening was getting cooler. Amy shuddered when a cold breeze caused her hair to be blown into her face, but she didn't budge.

"It feels so crazy," she commented, looking up at the sky. "Just a few hours ago, I was staring at some stars and bawling my eyes out."

Jake chuckled. "Just a few hours ago, we were also lost in a forest, threatened to be shot, threatened to be blown up, actually kidnapped-"

"Yeah, alright, I get the idea!" Amy laughed. _Laughing.Wasn't that such a normal thing to be doing?_

Jake looked at her. "I get what you mean though, it's like when your favorite TV show ends and you dont know what to do with your life anymore." He added knowledgeably.

Amy nodded in agreement, lips still upturned. "It's like the adrenaline is still in my body but I don't have any use for it anymore, so it's just swirling around and making me antsy for no reason." 

Jake turned so that his side was leaning against the car rather than his back. "It's too calm. I mean, something's gotta give, right?"

Amy looked at him. " Wow, yeah, that's exactly how I feel. Waiting for something to happen." She shook her head in amusement. Jake mirrored her action, then looked st the ground.

"Well," he said, standing up straight, "I guess you'll want to go home, Brad is waiting -"

Amy took a deep breath, and ran a hand over her face. "It's Ryan!!And...and I broke up with him." Her voice dropped several decibels on the last part.

"What!? When!?"asked Jake, flabbergasted.

Amy sighed. She hadn't planned on talking about this, ever. "The phone call in the hospital..."

_"Amy!"_

She sighed again, more heavily, running her hands through her hair. From the corner of they eye she noticed Jake staring at her intently. 

She suddenly started rambling. 

"When we were driving to St. Mary yesterday, I saw there were like 35 messages from him...and we'd _just met_ in the afternoon...and that...I dunno...kinda set something off...and also when we were looking at the stars last night? I realised I was really happy on my own, and he was dead weight I was carrying around."

Jake whistled, a low, long sound. "That bad,huh?" 

Amy shrugged. Her mind was still hazy, like it hadn't fully hit her yet. "It's not him...he's a good guy. Genuinely. I guess, I was with him for the wrong reasons. I went on a date with him because my mom set us up. I said yes to being his girlfriend because his family is friends with my family and it felt rude to say no...also I had no reason to say no, or atleast that's what I felt...and I mean, he's not bad, you know, smart and kind and all that stuff, but after a while I was just dating him because it was too late and I was in too deep to get out easily. Also, I'm really scared of my mom." She pulled a face." I hit thirty next year, and she's always on my back about how she had 4 kids by the time _she_ was 30."  
She sighed again and looked up at Jake and found him staring back with an odd expression. _Pity? Amusement?_

He stared for a beat too long, seemed to realise this, and became flustered, immediately turning to humour mode. "Wow, Santiago, what a whole lot of emotional unloading you've done! I have one thing to say- Gina's right, other people's feelings are _ew._ Is this how you feel when I talk about my sexcapades?? "

Amy managed to crack a smile. "Peralta, I'm sure your sexcapades are just wet dreams you've had the previous night."

"Hey- not all the time!!" He looked only mildly embarrassed. 

Amy laughed loudly, a full on belly aching laugh. "Gotcha, buddy."

He pulled a face at her.

Still giggling, she straightened up too, and turned to unlock her car door. 

"Hey, Amy..." she turned around to find Jake looking uncharacteristically awkward and unsure. 

"What's up?"

He took a deep breath and continued. "I know...we said some things...I just want you to know that-"

"Yeah. " She interrupted. "I know. " And she did. She had a new- found appreciation for her partner, and she was pretty ashamed of the things she'd said - but to be fair, she only gave as good as she got. 

He opened his mouth, probably to apologize some more, and Amy suddenly realised she didn't need to hear it. " It's okay, Jake."

He smiled and pulled out a leaf that had been blown into her hair by the wind. "It's harder to trust people when your own dad has broken your trust one too many times." He shrugged. "I've gotten used to doing things by myself, not relying on others for help."

"Except when its paperwork." Amy pointed out.

"Except when its paperwork."He grinned, agreeing.

"I get what you mean, I feel the same way sometimes. But in some places, like when your life is in danger, it's good to know someone has your back, right? And Jake...I do have yours. Even if you're an annoying prick sometimes." 

He smiled at her, shy and sweet. "You're right. And I've got your back too. Somehow, you're the best partner I've ever had."

"Wasn't your last partner a 60 year old alcoholic with a hygiene problem?" 

"Good old Toby. You're certainly an improvement on him, if only by a little bit."

"A little bit!?"

"Yeah, a teeny bit." 

Amy shakes her head and crosses her arms, looking at the sky again. 

Jake took a deep breath. "Honestly, Amy, I'm so sorry."

She looked at him. He only looked bit forlorn. "I'm sorry, too."

He grinned and then, out of nowhere, pulled her in for a hug that was only slightly bone-crushing. Amy found herself thinking that this was the first time they'd ever hugged, and that he was _blessedly warm._

"It was a really scary 24 hours, huh? " He asked, speaking into her hair.

She chuckled and nodded, her face still buried in his shoulder. He began to pull away, and Amy felt a pang of sadness.

"Well..... good night," he nodded at her, beginning to walk away, backwards, still facing her.

Amy didn't know what made her do it, but she found herself walking towards him. "Hey, Peralta- "

"Yeah?" He stopped.

She reached him and looked into his face sheepishly. "I've still got some adrenaline left in me..."

"Okay...?" He looked confused.

"My brother went on a trip last month and he got me 4 bottles of Mexico's finest tequila. "

He grinned. "Okay.."

"You want to come over and try to forget this crazy day?"

"Okay!" He bounded towards her car. Amy laughed and followed. 

\----------------------------------------‐------------

AMY'S APARTMENT   
12 AM

"I don't really want to forget though..."Jake proclaimed. 

"Forget what?" Amy frowned at him.

"Forget today..or is it yesterday?..I've lost time track..." 

"Do you mean track of time?!" Amy laughed .

"Oops!" Jake joined in, reaching up to poke Amy, but his hand didn't seem to be listening to his brain.

Yes, they were more than a little drunk.

A bottle of tequila, almost empty, stood upright in front of them. The the rest of the world seemed tilted. Jake's head had started spinning many sips ago and he was sprawled on the floor. Amy had started the night on her sofa, but now she was somehow midway between the sofa, the ground and the coffee table. 

"It was crazy, but I don't want to forget it, "Jake reiterated. "I had fun."

"Fun!? Say that again when a mud- murden- murded-"

He laughed at her slurred speech and that set her off, too.

"I know," she said, abandoning her previous sentence, hiccuping.  
"We make a good team, Peralta."

He turned over to lie on his stomach and looked into her eyes. They were only slightly unfocused. 

"We are friends though, right Santiago?"

She hiccuped again, then said, loudly, after clearing her throat pointedly: "There are some things that you can't share without ending up liking each other, and being kidnapped and almost killed together is one of them." She pretends to curtsey. 

Jake laughed, his shaking shoulders banging against the coffee table.

"What, is this from that Shakespeare guy?"

Amy gasped dramatically. "First of all, say that in front of any well-read person and they will ostradise- osdr- otrs- banish you."

_"From where?"_

"Second, no! It's from Harry Potter, _the greatest_ \- at least the most popular- literary work of the 21st century. "

Jake didn't look too impressed. "Yeah, I've watched the movie with the dragons..seems cool..."

Amy struggled to push herself up to a more authoritative position. "What? Movie? Just one? What about the books? "

"Ew," said Jake. 

"Jake! I don't care what else you don't read, but you have to read Harry Potter, it's important, okay??"

Jake frowned. "I was going to...once...but I never had the motivation, you know? Everyone was reading it but then I was like, it's just a book, right?" 

"NO!" She said, still struggling to get up, but failing. She gave up, resuming her weird position and trying to look as serious as a completely wasted person could look. "You have to read it!!"

"Maybe, one day," he shrugged. (Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that it would be his _boundless love for Amy_ that would finally be his incentive for reading Harry Potter.) 

Any found out first hand that it is difficult to roll your eyes while drunk. She took another swig from the bottle instead. (They'd long since abandoned their glasses.) 

"Aren't you drunk enough?" Jake asked her, laughing again.The amount of alcohol they'd drank was enough to get them completely wasted to black out level, but it had been spread out over a period of 4 hours and punctuated by many pizza slices, which was why they were still alive. "Do you know, Rosa and Gina have a Santiago drunkenness scale?? It goes upto 8 points...but they don't know 6 and 7 yet...."

Amy giggled."Really?? What is 1 and 3 and 2 and 5??"

"You missed 4!" Jake snorted. "Damn, you are very drunk. I think you've bypassed the scale. I think you've _broken_ the scale!"

"Hey, I had a breakup and I was almost killed!I deserve this." 

His face suddenly fell. "Sorry about your breakup, Santiago. "

"Sorry the girl from Queens won't return your calls, Peralta."

"There was no girl from Queens," he whined. "I mean, there was, but we didn't have sex. I think we fell asleep. She was just doing it to make her boyfriend jealous."

"I really want to laugh at that but it's so sad. " Amy whined too. She reached a hand out to pat him, but instead almost caught him in the eye. 

"Ouch!" He clutched his eye (the wrong one) and groaned.

"Oops!" She giggled. "Sorry."

"Is this why he broke up with you? Your violence? " 

"I broke up with him, idiot!" Amy said, rather righteously.

"Then why are you sad? "

_"I'm not sad! "_ She protested, but then pouted. " No wait...I am sad! When will I find someone who loves me? Like Terry and Sharon; and Gina and herself; and my parents..."

"Love is a lie!" Jake proclaimed.

"No it isnt!" Amy shot back.

"Well, it's a lie for me," he shrugged.

"No, it isnt! "Amy said again.Yeah, she was out of it. She tried again. "You'll find someone, Peralta...maybe that person is too busy holed up in their apartment watching Die Hard...but one day they'll come out to buy some orange soda and you'll meet and live happily ever after in your gummy bear house."

Jake chuckled, embarrassed but pleased. "And one day you'll find a nerd who has read all the Harry Potter books and you can quote them at each other, always."

"Always?" She said and laughed."I think you inad-ver-tant-ly quoted Snape."

"What snake?" Jake asked. 

His look of confusion was adorable, Amy decided, and laughed again.  
"Don't worry. My future love-of-my-life will understand."

"I bet I'll find my love- of- my- life-" (it came out as loffmalive) "-before you do." Jake said. " I mean, more people gotta love Die Hard than Harry Potter, right? "

"Jake, you live in a world of your own, that's not true at all! "

Jake snorted in disbelief. "Well then, make the bet! "

"Done! " Amy tried very hard to reach out to shake his hand, but eventually gave up.

"Done?" 

"Done!!" 

"Well, done!"

And yeah, they kept yelling 'done' in different voices and lapsing into giggles and there was some more yelling and they fell asleep in the same places they were. 

They woke up with pounding headaches and horrible tastes in their mouths and cricked necks, with absolutely no memory of the night before, or of the bet they had made ( the first bet of many, many more to come) . 

But - had they remembered the bet, they would probably be sad to realise (it would take a few years) neither would win, as technically neither got there 'first'. 

But if the abundant joy they felt at _finally,finally_ falling in love with each other was any evidence, maybe both of them won. 

And one day, they would live happily ever after, together, competitiveness and all. But as of today, they still had some maturing to do, don't you think? 

_Their future love story has been written very well by Dan Goor. You should check it out. Again. Multiple times._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa- here we are, at the end! I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you had fun reading! Please let me know what you think!!! Thanks for reading!!


End file.
